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Wildfires are key drivers of land use/land cover (LULC) dynamics by burning vegetation and affecting human infrastructure. On the contrary, LULC changes (LULCCs) may affect the fire regime by influencing vegetation type, burnable areas, fuel loads and continuity. This study investigates the relationship between LULCC and wildfires. We developed a methodology based on different indicators, which allowed us to quantitatively assess and better understand the transitions between LULC classes and burnt area (BA) in Europe in the last two decades (2000–2019). The assessment was performed for the entire European continent and, independently, for each of the five European countries most affected by wildfires: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece. The main results are the following: (i) LULCC analysis revealed a net loss in forests and arable land and a net gain in shrubs; (ii) most of the BA occurred in forests (42% for the whole of Europe), especially in coniferous forests; (iii) transitions from BA generally were to transitional woodland/shrub or, again, to BA. Overall, our results confirm the existence of a strong relationship between wildfires and LULCCs in Europe, which was quantified in the present study. These findings are of paramount importance in fire and environmental system management and ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

External sun shading devices are increasingly used in sustainable buildings to reduce the greenhouse effect in the summer and the glare effect due to direct solar irradiation through transparent surfaces. The acoustic effects of these devices have been investigated in recent studies that suggest the possibility of optimising these elements to improve acoustic comfort in indoor environments, even with open windows. Nevertheless, there are few studies that analyse the combined effect of these devices on acoustic attenuation and improved daylighting. In this paper, the results of acoustics and daylighting simulations are reported, considering different dimensions, distances of the louvres and orientations of the façade. The main results of previous works concerning the effect of lining the bottom side of each louvre with sound-absorbing material are also briefly summarised. The acoustic effects of different configurations of the louvres are evaluated in terms of Insertion Loss in the façade plane. For the lighting simulations (daylight factor, daylighting uniformity and daylight glare probability), the variation of the shielding effect is studied considering the spacing between the louvres and the orientation of the façade for different times and seasons for latitude in the South of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atezolizumab is a monoclonal antibody targeting the programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) that was approved in 2017 in the USA and Europe for the second-line treatment of advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This review article describes the practical clinical issues associated with atezolizumab treatment in NSCLC using a combination of four illustrative cases and a narrative literature review. The first two cases highlight the importance of tumor mutational status when making treatment decisions. A 62-year-old man with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated, PD-L1-positive, stage IV lung adenocarcinoma received treatment with second-line atezolizumab + bevacizumab, carboplatin, and paclitaxel (BCP) after first-line osimertinib. In the second case, a 63-year-old man with stage IVb lung adenocarcinoma with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) translocation received sixth-line treatment with atezolizumab + BCP. The two final cases both had extensive metastases. A 55-year-old woman with EGFR-mutated lung adenocarcinoma received second-line treatment with atezolizumab + BCP after development of multiple metastases, followed by atezolizumab + bevacizumab until last follow-up. A 42-year-old man with PD-L1-positive pulmonary adenocarcinoma (negative for EGFR mutations) developed liver and brain metastases after several lines of therapy. He underwent holocranial radiation and received atezolizumab + BCP, which resulted in a decrease in all measurable and evaluable tumoral lesions. These illustrative cases indicate that the type and number of mutations may influence treatment response to atezolizumab, and that atezolizumab may provide clinical benefit in patients with high disease burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide diagnoses of bowel cancer approximate an estimated one million new cases per year, comprising 9% of all cancer cases, and this has continued to increase over the last 25 years. With the association between cancer risk and increasing age, together with the suggestion that by 2015 there will be a 22% increase in the proportion of the population aged over 65 years and a 50% increase in the proportion of people aged over 80 years, there is likely to be a significant increase in the demand on cancer services throughout Europe and the rest of the world. This article discusses the current state of bowel cancer screening within Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) is the most common digestive disease in industrialized countries (Europe and North America) and is associated with microscopic changes in the squamous epithelium. However, biopsy is not presently included in the routine diagnostic flow chart of GERD. In contrast, esophageal biopsy is mandatory when diagnosing Barrett''s esophagus. High quality histology reports are necessary to provide information on diagnosis and can also be important for research and epidemiological studies. It has been evident for decades that pathology reports vary between institutions and even within a single institution. Standardization of reporting is the best way to ensure that information necessary for patient management is included in pathology reports. This paper details the histological criteria for diagnosing GERDassociated microscopic esophagitis, other forms of esophagitis with specific features and columnar metaplasia in the lower esophagus (Barrett''s esophagus). It provides a detailed description of appropriate sampling criteria, individual lesions and how they contribute to the histology report. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] Meat control is required in the European Community. [•] New fast methods to detect meat species may be helpful to supervisory bodies. [•] A rapid UPLC method, using myoglobin as marker, is presented for minced meat control. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background and Aims: Management of Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) has improved over the last decades. The main aim was to evaluate the contemporary post-liver transplant (post-LT) outcomes in Europe., Approach and Results: Data from all patients who underwent transplantation from 1976 to 2020 was obtained from the European Liver Transplant Registry (ELTR). Patients < 16 years, with secondary BCS or HCC were excluded. Patient survival (PS) and graft survival (GS) before and after 2000 were compared. Multivariate Cox regression analysis identified predictors of PS and GS after 2000. Supplemental data was requested from all ELTR-affiliated centers and received from 44. In all, 808 patients underwent transplantation between 2000 and 2020. One-, 5- and 10-year PS was 84%, 77%, and 68%, and GS was 79%, 70%, and 62%, respectively. Both significantly improved compared to outcomes before 2000 ( p < 0.001). Median follow-up was 50 months and retransplantation rate was 12%. Recipient age (aHR:1.04,95%CI:1.02-1.06) and MELD score (aHR:1.04,95%CI:1.01-1.06), especially above 30, were associated with worse PS, while male sex had better outcomes (aHR:0.63,95%CI:0.41-0.96). Donor age was associated with worse PS (aHR:1.01,95%CI:1.00-1.03) and GS (aHR:1.02,95%CI:1.01-1.03). In 353 patients (44%) with supplemental data, 33% had myeloproliferative neoplasm, 20% underwent TIPS pre-LT, and 85% used anticoagulation post-LT. Post-LT anticoagulation was associated with improved PS (aHR:0.29,95%CI:0.16-0.54) and GS (aHR:0.48,95%CI:0.29-0.81). Hepatic artery thrombosis and portal vein thrombosis (PVT) occurred in 9% and 7%, while recurrent BCS was rare (3%)., Conclusions: LT for BCS results in excellent patient- and graft-survival. Older recipient or donor age and higher MELD are associated with poorer outcomes, while long-term anticoagulation improves both patient and graft outcomes., (Copyright © 2024 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.)