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Tissue paper production frequently combines two main types of raw materials: cellulose fibers from renewable sources and polymer-based additives. The development of premium products with improved properties and functionalities depends on the optimization of both. This work focused on the combination of innovative experimental and computational strategies to optimize furnish. The main goal was to improve the functional properties of the most suitable raw materials for tissue materials and develop new differentiating products with innovative features. The experimental plan included as inputs different fiber mixtures, micro/nano fibrillated cellulose, and biopolymer additives, and enzymatic and mechanical process operations. We present an innovative tissue paper simulator, the SimTissue, that we have developed, to establish the correlations between the tissue paper process inputs and the end-use paper properties. Case studies with industrial interest are presented in which the tissue simulator was used to design tissue paper materials with different fiber mixtures, fiber modification treatments, micro/nano fibrillated cellulose, and biopolymer formulations, and to estimate tissue softness, strength, and absorption properties. The SimTissue was able to predict and optimize a broader range of formulations containing micro/nanocellulose fibers, biopolymer additives, and treated-fiber mixtures, saving laboratory and industrial resources.

Simple Summary Although secondary enucleation (SE) is the treatment of choice for retinoblastoma eyes that did not respond favorably to conservative therapies, clear criteria for its indication are, however, currently missing. In this position paper on behalf of the European Retinoblastoma Group (EURbG), we discuss the available literature on SE, including its influence on metastases rate and survival, and propose guidelines to assist decision-making to interrupt eye-preserving therapies depending on the availabilities of advanced diagnostic and therapeutic modalities. Absolute indications to SE may be restricted to eyes with refractory tumor activity resisting all salvage treatments or eyes under apparent tumor control but no visual potential and irreducible complications. In contrast, eyes with an obscured optic nerve head and/or ocular complications amenable to specific surgical or medical management can be considered relative indications, provided that appropriate follow-up can be implemented and that parents are fully aware of a residual risk. Abstract Secondary enucleation (SE) puts an irreversible end to eye-preserving therapies, whenever their prolongation is expected to violate the presumed state of metastatic grace. At present, it must be acknowledged that clear criteria for SE are missing, leading to empiric and subjective indications commonly related to disease progression or relapse, disease persistence masking the optic nerve head or treatment-related complications obscuring the fundus view. This absence of evidence-based consensus regarding SE is explained by the continuously moving frontiers of the conservative management as a result of diagnostic and therapeutic advances, as well as by the lack of studies sufficiently powered to accurately stratify the risk of metastasis in conservatively treated patients. In this position paper of the European Retinoblastoma Group (EURbG), we give an overview of the progressive shift in the indications for SE over the past decades and propose guidelines to assist decision-making with respect to when SE becomes imperative or recommended, with corresponding absolute and relative SE indications. Further studies and validation of biologic markers correlated with the risk of metastasis are expected to set more precisely the frontiers of conservative management and thus consensual criteria for SE in the future.

Urine bags are commonly used to collect urine samples from neonates. However, the sample can be contaminated by stool, or detachment of the bag due to body movement can lead to failure of the collection. A qualitative urine collection kit containing ten filter papers of 3.2 mm diameter was developed and clinically verified among 138 neonates. During a single diaper change (approximately 3 h), the rate of urine collection was calculated. Urine collection was considered to be successful if any filter paper in the urine collection sheet turned from blue to white. Of the 127 neonates who passed urine, 122 had a change in the filter paper. The urine collection rate was 96%, with changes in all 10 filter papers observed in 98 neonates (80%). Urine collection rate was not influenced by sex (p = 1.00), age at collection (p = 0.72), preterm birth (p = 1.00), low birth weight (p = 0.92), or fecal contamination (p = 1.00). The incidence of dermatitis was not higher than in the group in which urine bags were used (urine collection kit: 2/68 [3%]; urine bag: 5/68 [7%]; p = 0.44). Novel urine collection kits using filter paper can collect samples from neonates safely and with a high probability of success.

Sustainability appears to be increasingly important to consumers. In order for companies to reach their sustainability targets and offer more environmentally friendly solutions to consumers, food producers and retailers have begun to change their packaging to more recyclable, bio-based and biodegradable packaging. This study evaluated the sensory characteristics of paper-based prototype packages developed for two product categories (biscuit and meat packages) using a trained sensory panel. Consumer liking, preference and purchase intent were assessed by 130 participants. For the biscuit packages, no significant differences were observed for the liking of any of the four dimensions assessed (appearance, design, feel or overall liking). However, consumer segmentation identified three relatively homogeneous groups of consumers exhibiting differences in the hedonic reaction to the three packages. For the meat packages, significant differences and preference were observed between the original and paper-based packages. For both categories, the purchase intent was low, indicating that further work needed to be done to improve several quality characteristics (e.g., design, size and strength of the package), which would lead to better consumer acceptability.

International audience; Multidisciplinary management of worsening heart failure (HF) in the elderly improves survival. To ensure patients have access to adequate care, the current HF and French health authority guidelines advise establishing a clearly defined HF patient pathway. This pathway involves coordinating multiple disciplines to manage decompensating HF. Yet, recent registry data indicate that insufficient numbers of patients receive specialised cardiology care, which increases the risk of rehospitalisation and mortality. The patient pathway in France involves three key stages: presentation with decompensated HF, stabilisation within a hospital setting and transitional care back out into the community. In each of these three phases, HF diagnosis, severity and precipitating factors need to be promptly identified and managed. This is particularly pertinent in older, frail patients who may present with atypical symptoms or coexisting comorbidities and for whom geriatric evaluation may be needed or specific geriatric syndrome management implemented. In the transition phase, multi-professional post-discharge management must be coordinated with community health care professionals. When the patient is discharged, HF medication must be optimised, and patients educated about self-care and monitoring symptoms. This review provides practical guidance to clinicians managing worsening HF in the elderly.

Protecting the health of farmworkers is a crucial issue. Previous studies report that safety training and educational interventions might increase farmworkers’ protective behaviors. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of distributing a checklist as an interventional measure for pesticide protection in rural Asia, where pesticide poisoning is a major problem. This study was a community-based interventional study, using the distribution of a checklist with pesticide protective habits in Narail district, Bangladesh, with a total of 100 eligible males. Two questionnaire surveys were conducted before distributing the checklist and 25 days after. Change between the baseline and follow-up surveys was measured by frequency scores of protective behavior. The average pesticide-protective behavioral score increased from 4.58 in the baseline survey to 8.11 in the follow-up. Additionally, the checklist was more effective in the group with higher education, the younger group, and the group with lower pesticide-protective behavioral scores in the baseline survey. The paper checklist on protective behaviors against pesticide poisoning was effective because of the increase in the frequency of such positive behavior among farmworkers. Thus, intervention measures should be implemented to increase the knowledge and awareness regarding pesticide protection habits to protect the health of farmworkers.

Presently, adsorption/absorption is one of the most efficient and cost-effective methods to clean oil spill up. In this work, self-supporting paper-like fibrous membranes were prepared via electrospinning and carbonisation at different temperatures (500, 650 or 800 °C) by using polyacrylonitrile/polymethylmethacrylate blends with a different mass ratio of the two polymers (1:0, 6:1 or 2:1). After morphological and microstructural characterisation, the as-produced membranes were evaluated as sorbents by immersion in vegetable (sunflower seed or olive) and mineral (motor) oil or in 1:4 (v:v) oil/water mixture. Nitrogen-rich membrane carbonised at the lowest temperature behaves differently from the others, whose sorption capacity by immersion in oil, despite the great number of sorbent and oil properties involved, is mainly controlled by the fraction of micropores. The encapsulation of water nanodroplets by the oil occurring during the immersion in oil/water mixture causes the oil-from-water separation ability to show an opposite behaviour compared to the sorption capacity. Overall, among the investigated membranes, the support produced with 2:1 mass ratio of the polymers and carbonisation at 650 °C exhibits the best performance both in terms of sorption capacity (73.5, 54.8 and 12.5 g g−1 for olive, sunflower seed and motor oil, respectively) and oil-from-water separation ability (74, 69 and 16 for olive, sunflower seed and motor oil, respectively).

The paper structure of historical prints is sort of a unique fingerprint. Paper with the same origin shows similar chain line distances. As the manual measurement of chain line distances is time consuming, the automatic detection of chain lines is beneficial. We propose an end-to-end trainable deep learning method for segmentation and parameterization of chain lines in transmitted light images of German prints from the 16th Century. We trained a conditional generative adversarial network with a multitask loss for line segmentation and line parameterization. We formulated a fully differentiable pipeline for line coordinates’ estimation that consists of line segmentation, horizontal line alignment, and 2D Fourier filtering of line segments, line region proposals, and differentiable line fitting. We created a dataset of high-resolution transmitted light images of historical prints with manual line coordinate annotations. Our method shows superior qualitative and quantitative chain line detection results with high accuracy and reliability on our historical dataset in comparison to competing methods. Further, we demonstrated that our method achieves a low error of less than 0.7 mm in comparison to manually measured chain line distances.

Utilization of microbial enzymes has been widely reported for centuries, but the commercial use of enzymes has been recently adopted. Particularly, cellulases have been utilized in various commercial sectors including agriculture, brewing, laundry, pulp and paper and textile industry. Cellulases of microbial origin have shown their potential application in various commercial sectors including textile, pulp and paper, laundry, brewing, agriculture and biofuel. Cellulases have diversified applications in the food industry, food service, food supply and its preservation. Indeed, cellulases can tenderize fruits, clarify the fruit juices, reduce roughage in dough, hydrolyze the roasted coffee, extract tea polyphenols and essential oils from olives and can increase aroma and taste in food items. However, their role in food industries has by and large remained neglected. The use of immobilized cellulases has further expanded their application in fruit and vegetable processing as it potentiates the catalytic power and reduces the cost of process. Technological and scientific developments will further expand their potential usage in the food industry.

This paper defines the concept of organic and conventional agriculture and presents the differences in the quality of produced food resulting from the farming system. The test materials were the same groups of food products from certified organic and conventional production. As a result, the dry matter content, water activity and the content of potassium, iron, copper, manganese and lead were compared. The obtained results showed that food from organic farming is characterized by higher dry matter content and lower water activity. Conventional products are characterized by higher content of the examined elements, which is due to, among others, geochemical background, the use of mineral fertilizers, and the development of industry and transport. Ecological management influences the increase in the quality of consumed food by limiting the migration of nutrients and other pollutants to the environment.

Every year, the juice industry generates millions of tons of by-products worldwide such as seeds, skins and pomace. This creates significant environmental problems. It is estimated that about 25% of the fruit weight used in juice production is waste. However, even after processing, this waste contains high amounts of valuable bioactive substances. Phenolic compounds and pectin have been found to be the main components of apple pomace and are responsible for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal, and anticancer properties. However, the low bioavailability and sensitivity of some chemicals limit their use in many areas. Advanced extraction techniques and encapsulation of apple pomace extracts is a promising technique to overcome these problems and increasing their applicability (e.g., in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, or food industries).

Wine flavor undergoes major changes during bottle aging and can be influenced by the type of closure. The interaction between wine, the type of closure and the external environment has the potential to significantly influence the overall quality of bottled wines, especially when the storage period is relatively long (more than five years). Therefore, the choice of closure (cork, synthetic or screw cap) deserves special attention in order to establish the ideal sealing conditions for optimizing wine flavor attributes. The contribution of different closures to the quality of bottled wine is through mass transfer phenomena, including permeation, sorption (scalping) or desorption of chemicals between closure materials and wines. Thus, this article aims to review the impact of different closures on the flavor composition of wines during post-bottling conditions. The implications of closures on wine sensory properties are also discussed.

The beer industry is a major producer of solid waste globally, primarily in the form of brewer’s spent grain (BSG), which due to its low value has historically been diverted to livestock as feed or to landfills. However, its high moisture content and chemical composition positions BSG as an ideal candidate for further processing with microbial fermentation. Recent research has focused on filamentous fungi and the ability of some species therein to degrade the predominant recalcitrant cellulolignin components of BSG to produce valuable compounds. Many species have been investigated to biovalorize this waste stream, including those in the genuses Aspergillus, Penicillium, Rhyzopus, and Trichoderma, which have been used to produce a wide array of highly valuable enzymes and other functional compounds, and to increase the nutritional value of BSG as an animal feed. This review of recent developments in the application of filamentous fungi for the valorization of BSG discusses the biochemical makeup of BSG, the biological mechanisms underlying fungi’s primacy to this application, and the current applications of fungi in this realm.