Assessing a Nation’s Competitiveness in Global Food Innovation: Creating a Global Food Innovation Index

While food innovation is heavily influenced by the myriad of policies, regulations and other environmental factors within a country, globalization means that food innovation is also a matter of international competitiveness. This benchmarking exercise uses 24 variables to compare the different innovation environments across ten countries: Canada, the US, Mexico, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, and Australia. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected from publicly available sources only to measure each variable and ultimately provide a ranking. Qualitative data was evaluated using thematic coding to establish baseline practices and then compare each country to the baseline. Quantitative data was evaluated by constructing an average to which each country was compared. Countries whose data showed they met the average were awarded two points, and those who performed above or below average were either awarded an additional point or saw a point deducted. A final ranking was established from the scores across all four pillars, and the ranking was weighted to account for lacking data. The final weighted ranking saw the UK rank first, followed by the US, Germany, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Mexico, France and finally, Italy in tenth place.

The Association of Dietary Intake with Arterial Stiffness and Vascular Ageing in a Population with Intermediate Cardiovascular Risk—A MARK Study

The aim of this study was to analyse the association of diet with arterial stiffness and vascular ageing in a Caucasian population with intermediate cardiovascular risk. We recruited 2475 individuals aged 35–75 years with intermediate cardiovascular risk. Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) was measured using a VaSera VS-1500® device. Vascular ageing was defined in two steps. Step 1: The 20 individuals who presented kidney disease, peripheral arterial disease, or heart failure were classified as early vascular ageing (EVA). Step 2: The individuals with percentiles by age and sex above the 90th percentile of baPWV among the participants of this study were classified as EVA, and the rest of the individuals were classified as non-EVA. The diet of the participants was analysed with two questionnaires: (1) the diet quality index (DQI) questionnaire and (2) the Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence questionnaire. The mean age of the sample was 61.34 ± 7.70 years, and 61.60% were men. Adherence to the MD was 53.30%. The DQI was 54.90%. Of the entire sample, 10.70% (11.15% of the men and 9.95% of the women) were EVA. In the multiple linear regression analysis, for each additional point in the DQI questionnaire, there was a decrease of −0.081 (95%CI (confidence intervals) −0.105–−0.028) in baPWV; in the MD adherence questionnaire, there was a decrease of −0.052 (95%CI −0141–−0.008). When performing the analysis, separated by sex, the association remained significant in men but not in women. In the logistic regression analysis, there was an increase in MD adherence and a decrease in the probability of presenting EVA, both with the DQI questionnaire (OR (odds ratio) = 0.65; 95%CI 0.50–0.84) and with the MD adherence questionnaire (OR = 0.75; 95%CI 0.58–0.97). In the analysis by sex, the association was only maintained in men (with DQI, OR = 0.54; 95%CI 0.37–0.56) (with MD, OR = 0.72; 95%CI 0.52–0.99). The results of this study suggest that a greater score in the DQI and MD adherence questionnaires is associated with lower arterial stiffness and a lower probability of presenting EVA. In the analysis by sex, this association is only observed in men.

A Systematic Literature Review of Educational Apps: What Are They Up To?

As the use of Educational Apps rises every day and the population begins its use at an increasingly early age, it becomes relevant to understand the positive and negative aspects of this technological tool. However, the information may seem overwhelming, especially for those starting investigations on this topic. For this reason, a Systematic Literature Review was conducted on 119 published scientific papers, in order to create a work that synthesizes all the recent data about most used keywords, funding aid, authors and publishing journals, just to name a few. Additional data also reveals the need, expressed by authors and backed by their research, to evaluate the effectiveness of the Educational Apps. As an additional point, some solutions are offered to deal with the aforementioned problem, as well as some recommendations for the correct development of applications.

A Novel Early Relapse Prediction Score Based on Age, ISS and Disease Status at the Time of Transplant in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma. a Study of the EBMT Chronic Malignancies Working Party

Rationale and Aim: In patients with Myeloma, early relapse following Autologous Haematopoietic Cell Transplantation (Auto-HCT) is a poor prognostic marker. Two groups have published scoring systems to predict early relapse. The CIBMTR score is based on cytogenetics, the bone marrow plasma cell percentage at the time of Auto-HCT and serum albumin. The GIMEMA Simplified early relapse in multiple myeloma (S-ERMM) score is a cumulative score based on a raised serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), t(4;14), del17p, low albumin, bone marrow plasma percentage >60%, and lambda light chain. The aim of the current study was to develop a scoring system to predict early relapse post-Auto-HSCT-1 using readily available variables. Study design and statistics: Within the EBMT database, there were 8,206 patients meeting the following eligibility criteria: First auto transplant 2014-2019, Known sex, ISS at diagnosis, cytogenetics analysis at diagnosis, disease status at Auto-HCT, Interval diagnosis-Auto-HCT > 1 month and <= 12 months, conditioning with Melphalan 200 mg/m2 and known information on relapse; tandem auto-allo patients were excluded. The analysis consisted of two steps: (1) Training: modeling based on 4,389 patients (611 events for PFS12) transplanted between 2014 and 2017, with internal validation carried out by bootstrapping; and (2) Testing: the models obtained were applied to 3,817 patients (346 events for PFS12) transplanted in 2018 and 2019 for external validation. The characteristics of the two cohorts are first reported separately and then together (Table 1). Possible adjustment factors analyzed for the prognostic model included Age at Auto-HCT, Known sex, ISS at diagnosis, disease status at Auto-HCT, and time from diagnosis to Auto-HCT. Complete cytogenetic information was not available at the time of this analysis and will be included in the later analysis. The shape of the effect of age and of time from diagnosis to Auto-HCT was investigated both by the analysis of residuals and by applying boot-strap backward selection among different alternatives. The final results were confirmed in a robustness analysis excluding patients undergoing tandem Auto-HCT. Results: Comparison of the training and validation cohorts revealed no relevant differences (Table 1). Importantly, OS and PFS of both cohorts were overlapping with the probability of PFS at 12 months being 83.3% and 86.8%, respectively. The cumulative incidence of relapse at 12 month was 15.7% and 12.1%, respectively. Among patients who relapsed early, this occurred at a median of 6.64 months (0.56-11.99) in the first cohort, and at 5.85 months (0.1- 11.99) in the second cohort. The final model included (1) disease status at Auto-HCT, (2) age at Auto-HCT, and (3) ISS at diagnosis. Considering the order of magnitude of the coefficients, the points attributed in the risk score were: 0 for CR or VGPR; 1 for PR or SD/MR; 3 for Rel/Prog; 0 / 1/ 2 respectively for ISS I / II / III and -1 for Age<=55 yrs; -2 for Age (55-75 yrs]; -3 for Age>=75 yrs. The Hazard Ratio for a +1 point is 1.52 i.e. the risk of early relapse/death increased on average by 52% for each additional point in the score. The distribution of risk scores was as follows: Score= -2 (n=757), -1 (n=1,481), 0 (n=1,358), 1 (n=647), and 2 (n=146). The score allows separation of the PFS12 curves (Figure 1), with the lowest risk group (N=757) having a PFS at 12 months of 91%, and the highest risk group (N=146) having a PFS at 12 months of 65%. Despite some minor differences in the risk factors between the training and validation cohorts, the score has a similar average effect (HR=1.48 i.e. + 48% hazard for each additional point) and worked well in separating the curves, in particular in identifying the patients at high risk of early relapse. Discussion and conclusion: The new EBMT score to predict early relapse post-Auto-HCT uses the easily available variables of age and ISS stage at diagnosis as well as the dynamic variable of response to induction. With this simple approach, we were able to clearly identify patients at high risk of early relapse. To our surprise, older age emerged as a protective factor against relapse. This may reflect a relative selection bias in that older patients with higher risk disease may not have been selected for transplant. Impact of cytogenetics will be presented at the Congress. In conclusion, this novel scoring system is robust and easy to use in routine daily practice. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Beksac: Amgen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Janssen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Celgene: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Sanofi: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Oncopeptides: Consultancy. Blaise: Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Honoraria. Leleu: Karyopharm Therapeutics: Honoraria; AbbVie: Honoraria; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria; Merck: Honoraria; Mundipharma: Honoraria; Novartis: Honoraria; Carsgen Therapeutics Ltd: Honoraria; Oncopeptides: Honoraria; Janssen-Cilag: Honoraria; Gilead Sciences: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria; Pierre Fabre: Honoraria; Roche: Honoraria; Sanofi: Honoraria; Takeda: Honoraria, Other: Non-financial support. Forcade: Novartis: Consultancy, Other: Travel Support, Speakers Bureau; Gilead: Other: Travel Support, Speakers Bureau; Jazz: Other: Travel Support, Speakers Bureau; MSD: Other: Travel Support. Rabin: Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Travel support for meetings; BMS / Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Travel support for meetings; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Travel support for meetings. Kobbe: Celgene: Research Funding. Sossa: Amgen: Research Funding. Hayden: Jansen, Takeda: Other: Travel, Accomodation, Expenses; Amgen: Honoraria. Schoenland: Pfizer: Honoraria; sanofi: Research Funding; janssen,Prothena,Takeda,: Consultancy, Honoraria. Yakoub-Agha: Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Honoraria.

Neurological and medical complications in cerebral stroke patients before hospitalization and during admission to the clinic «oberig» stroke center

Objective ‒ to determine the rate of medical and neurological complications in patients with cerebral stroke (CS) before hospitalization and during in-patient treatment at the Stroke Center (SC), as well as to establish independent predictors for new medical complications at the SC, and to develop an appropriate prognostic model. Materials and methods. The study enrolled 539 patients, 309 (57.3 %) were men and 230 (42.7 %) were women. The age of patients ranged from 20.4 to 95.6 (66.0 [57.9; 75.1]) years. 438 (81.3 %) patients were diagnosed with ischemic stroke (177 (40.4%) ‒ atherothrombotic subtype, 200 (45.7 %) ‒ cardioembolic, 30 (6.9 %) – lacunar, 32 (7.0 %) ‒ stroke of other established or undetermined etiology), 101 (18.7 %) ‒ intracerebral hemorrhage. 109 (20.2%) of the study participants were hospitalized in the hyperacute period, 113 (21.0 %) ‒ in the acute, 199 (36.9 %) ‒ in the early subacute, 36 (6.7 %) ‒ in the late subacute, 82 (15.2%) ‒ in the remote (chronic) period of CS. All patients were evaluated upon admission using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). The method of construction and analysis of logistic regression models was used to quantify the degree of influence of factor features on the risk of complications. The analysis was performed using the package MedCalc v. 19.1. Results. The total NIHSS score on admission ranged from 0 to 39 (11 [6; 18]). Among the studied patients, 119 (22.1 %) had mild, 218 (40.5 %) – moderate, 114 (21.2 %) – severe, 88 (16.3 %) – very severe CS. Asesed with mRS upon admission, 11 (2.0 %) patients have 0 point, 34 (6.3 %) – 1 point, 58 (10.8 %) – 2 point, 65 (12.1 %) – 3 point,136 (25.2 %) – 4 point, and 235 (43.6 %) – 5 point. Neurological or medical complications before hospitalization occurred in 303 (56.2 %) patients, including 111 (20.6 %) patients with neurological complications and 192 (35.6 %) patients with medical ones. More than one complication was recorded in 52 (9.6 %) persons. The incidence of new neurological and medical complications during the SC stay was significantly lower (p<0.001) than before hospitalization. The independent predictors of new medical complications were CE subtype of IS (OR 2.08; 95 % CI 1.11–3.92), medical complications before admission (OR 2.58; 95 % CI 1.51–4.42), higher initial NIHSS score (OR 1.11; 95 % CI 1.06–1.16 for each additional point), and higher initial mRS (OR 1.62; 95 % CI 1.07–2.48, for each additional point). The predictive model based on the selected set of features has good sensitivity (86.4 %) and moderate specificity (68.4 %). The area under the operating characteristics curve AUC = 0.85 (95 % CI 0.82–0.88), indicates a strong relationship between this set of factorial factors and the risk of medical complications during in-patient treatment at the SC. Conclusions. Before SC admission, complications, mainly medical, occurred in the majo-rity of the patients. A higher rate of medical complications associated with severe CS, greater dependency, older age, and a longer period from CS onset to SC admission. The incidence of complications at the SC was significantly lower than before the admission, which suggests the benefits of care at a Comprehensive Stroke Unit.

Phenotypic and Genotypic Properties of Fluoroquinolone-Resistant, qnr-Carrying Escherichia coli Isolated from the German Food Chain in 2017

Fluoroquinolones are the highest priority, critically important antimicrobial agents. Resistance development can occur via different mechanisms, with plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) being prevalent in the livestock and food area. Especially, qnr genes, commonly located on mobile genetic elements, are major drivers for the spread of resistance determinants against fluoroquinolones. We investigated the prevalence and characteristics of qnr-positive Escherichia (E.) coli obtained from different monitoring programs in Germany in 2017. Furthermore, we aimed to evaluate commonalities of qnr-carrying plasmids in E. coli. We found qnr to be broadly spread over different livestock and food matrices, and to be present in various sequence types. The qnr-positive isolates were predominantly detected within selectively isolated ESBL (extended spectrum beta-lactamase)-producing E. coli, leading to a frequent association with other resistance genes, especially cephalosporin determinants. Furthermore, we found that qnr correlates with the presence of genes involved in resistance development against quaternary ammonium compounds (qac). The detection of additional point mutations in many isolates within the chromosomal QRDR region led to even higher MIC values against fluoroquinolones for the investigated E. coli. All of these attributes should be carefully taken into account in the risk assessment of qnr-carrying E. coli from livestock and food.

Intestinal Ultrasound in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Promising, but Work in Progress

Intestinal ultrasound (IUS) is increasingly used and promulgated as a noninvasive monitoring tool for children with inflammatory bowel disease because other diagnostic modalities such as colonoscopy and magnetic resonance imaging cause significant stress in the pediatric population. The most important parameters of inflammation that can be assessed using IUS are bowel wall thickness and hyperemia of the bowel wall. Research has shown that IUS has the potential to be a valuable additional point-of-care tool to guide treatment choice and to monitor and predict treatment response, although evidence of its accuracy and value in clinical practice is still limited. This review gives an update and overview of the current evidence on the use and accuracy of IUS in children with inflammatory bowel disease.

UNSYMMETRIC OSCILLATIONS OF ANISOTROPIC PLATEHAVING AN ADDITIONAL MASS

The problem of unsymmetric oscillations of circular plate made from anisotropic material is examined. The plate under consideration has an additional point mass attached offthe center or a system of additional masses. Also the oscillations of anisotropic circular plate with a point support placed offthe center are studied. The exact analytical approach is used for the decision of the above-mentioned problems; the method of compensating loads is applied. For this aim the basic and the compensating solutions are received. The basic solution satisfiesto the resolving differentialequation of the problem under study. The compensating solution satisfiesto the corresponding homogeneous equation and this solution amounting to the basic one also satisfiesto the boundary conditions. The Nielsen’s equation is used for the receiving of the exact solutions expressed in terms of Bessel functions. The equation for determination of frequencies of natural vibrations is obtained.

Judging Older Adult Speakers: Only Young Adults Low in Ageism Notice the Nuances

Ageism negatively impacts hiring and electability success, as well as intergenerational relationships (Levy,2003;2009). The current study sought to examine whether personality cues influenced performance ratings of older adult (OA) speakers whose behavior had been modified by an embodiment intervention (i.e., “power posing”). One-hundred-and-three young adults (YA; Mage=19.6, SD=2.06; 49.5% women) rated the performance of 9 OA speakers performing 5-minute campaign speeches, and reported the cues that influenced their ratings. Two independent raters coded the cues (i.e., introversion and extroversion; coded by two independent raters, κ = .72 [moderate-to-substantial interrater reliability; Chen, 2019; McHugh, 2012]). Participants also completed the Refined-Aging Semantic Differential (Polizzi & Millikin, 2002) as a measure of ageism endorsement. Greater ageism was associated with lower performance ratings (F(1,101)=15.97, p&lt;.001, R2=.14); performance was reduced by .12, 95%CIs[-.018,-.006] for each additional point of ageism endorsement. Next, we investigated whether personality cues would modify this relationship using Hayes PROCESS Model 1 (2018). A significant interaction emerged between ageism and introverted cues (b=.015, p=.05, 95%CIs[.006,.023]), suggesting that greater perceived introversion was negatively associated with performance ratings. Additionally, individuals lower in ageism were more likely to calibrate their performance judgments based on the pose condition of the speaker, with participants lower in ageism exhibiting greater variability across pose conditions (Ms=3.96-4.37), than individuals higher in ageism (Ms=4.21-4.31), suggesting that individuals lower in ageism were attending to nuances in the speech (e.g., pose influence), while higher ageist individuals relied more heavily on age-related judgments.