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Objectives To evaluate the clinical utility of the urinary bladder cancer antigen test UBC (R) Rapid for the diagnosis of bladder cancer (BC) and to develop and validate nomograms to identify patients at high risk of primary BC. Patients and Methods Data from 1787 patients from 13 participating centres, who were tested between 2012 and 2020, including 763 patients with BC, were analysed. Urine samples were analysed with the UBC (R) Rapid test. The nomograms were developed using data from 320 patients and externally validated using data from 274 patients. The diagnostic accuracy of the UBC (R) Rapid test was evaluated using receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis. Brier scores and calibration curves were chosen for the validation. Biopsy-proven BC was predicted using multivariate logistic regression. Results The sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve for the UBC (R) Rapid test were 46.4%, 75.5% and 0.61 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.58-0.64) for low-grade (LG) BC, and 70.5%, 75.5% and 0.73 (95% CI 0.70-0.76) for high-grade (HG) BC, respectively. Age, UBC (R) Rapid test results, smoking status and haematuria were identified as independent predictors of primary BC. After external validation, nomograms based on these predictors resulted in areas under the curve of 0.79 (95% CI 0.72-0.87) and 0.95 (95% CI: 0.92-0.98) for predicting LG-BC and HG-BC, respectively, showing excellent calibration associated with a higher net benefit than the UBC (R) Rapid test alone for low and medium risk levels in decision curve analysis. The R Shiny app allows the results to be explored interactively and can be accessed at www.blucab-index. net. Conclusion The UBC (R) Rapid test alone has limited clinical utility for predicting the presence of BC. However, its combined use with BC risk factors including age, smoking status and haematuria provides a fast, highly accurate and non-invasive tool for screening patients for primary LG-BC and especially primary HG-BC.

Increased reactivity of radiation-damaged quartz in the alkaline pore water of concrete and its role in radionuclide transport is a subject that is becoming increasingly important as nuclear power plants (NPPs) around the world reach end-of-life. Quartz contributes more than half the weight of most concretes and up to 40 % of the total radioactive waste volume associated with the dismantling of an NPP. The gamma-emitting radionuclides are the major contributors to the radiation dose rate in the concrete biological shield in the intermediate term after NPP shut-down. The appreciable activity and associated half-lives of these radionuclides pose a problem not only during the safe dismantling of NPPs, but also in terms of processing the concrete to reduce the active waste volume for final disposal in a repository. While thermal neutrons are captured by atomic nuclei according to their thermal neutron cross-sections, fast neutrons undergo collision cascades, which cause defects in the structure of materials. The concentration of defects accumulates as a function of neutron energy and fluence. The high covalency and the density of Si-O bonds in tectosilicates, primarily quartz, followed by feldspars, makes these minerals very susceptible to radiation damage. In this study, two inactive concrete powder samples were placed inside an instrumentation channel passing through the first biological shielding of an operating German NPP, respectively for a half- and a full fuel cycle. Using a plant-specific 3D-reactor model in conjunction with Monte Carlo neutron transport calculations, neutron fluences at the sample positions and the resulting gamma activities are calculated. We compare the measured and calculated activities of the gamma-emitting radionuclides Synchrotron X-ray powder diffractometry was used to examine structural changes on sub-nanoscale. The local structure of the silicate aggregate minerals was investigated by solid-state magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy using 27Al and 29Si as probes. With this work we wish to gain insights into the potential for alkali-silica reaction (ASR) in radiation-damaged concrete and the role this plays in the transport or sorption of radionuclides either present in situ via neutron activation or ex situ due to transport of leaked reactor cooling water.

According to the most recent listing reported by the European Commission, rare-earth elements (REEs) are the critical raw materials with the highest supply risk, whereas their recycling rates remain very low in the European Union [1]. End-of-life fluorescent lamps are a promising secondary source of REEs, but their recycling requires innovative separation processes [2,3]. By using phage surface display, Lederer and co-workers identified selectively surface-binding peptides that specifically bind to fluorescent lamp phosphors [4]. In a following study, Schrader et al. immobilized these peptides on coated well plates to investigate their binding to various REE phosphors [5]. The immobilization was facilitated by an activation with benzotriazole-1-yl-oxytripyrrolidinophosphonium-hexafluorophosphate (PyBOP) in the aprotic solvent N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) in the presence of the sterically hindered base diisopropylethylamine (DiPEA), a coupling reaction commonly used for chemical peptide synthesis. Recently, we investigated the immobilization method presented by Schrader et al. for the functionalization of Dynabeads [6]. Dynabeads are highly spherical and monodisperse composite magnetic beads, consisting of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles dispersed in a polystyrene matrix. They are commercially available with various surface coatings. The functionalization of amine coated Dynabeads with phosphor binding peptides, immobilized with the coupling reaction described above, did not change the Dynabeads’ zeta potential and had no significant effect on the interaction with REE phosphors [6]. On the other hand, we found that the immobilization onto carboxylic acid coated Dynabeads changed the Dynabeads’ zeta potential and isoelectric point. We also observed that this immobilization had a detrimental effect on the interaction of the beads with the targeted phosphor particles and suggested that this may be an indication of polymerization of the peptides on the Dynabeads’ surfaces. In this work, we present a quantitative analysis of the total bound nitrogen (TNb) for the quantification of the immobilized peptides on the Dynabeads. References 1. European Commission, Study on the EU’s list of Critical Raw Materials - Final Report (2020). 2. Patil, A.B., Paetzel, V., Struis, R.P.W.J., Ludwig, C. Separations 9 (2022), https://doi.org/10.3390/separations9030056 3. Binnemans, K., Jones, P. Journal of Rare Earths 32, 195-200 (2014), https://doi.org/10.1016/S1002-0721(14)60051-X 4. Lederer, F., Curtis, S., Bachmann, S., Dunbar, S., MacGillivray, R. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 114, (2016), https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.26240 5. Schrader, M., Bobeth, C., Lederer, F. ACS Omega XXXX, (2021), https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.1c04343 6. Boelens, P., Bobeth, C., Hinman, N., Weiss, S., Zhou, S., Vogel, M., Drobot, B., Azzam, S.S.A., Pollmann, K., Lederer, F. J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 169956 (2022), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmmm.2022.169956

Y-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) phases were found to incorporate Th atoms and the corresponding solubility ranges depend on the relative Y content. For the tetragonal phases with lower Y concentration of 14 at.% a maximal possible Th intake on the Zr/Y metal site reached ca. 10.3 at.%. Cubic phases with higher Y content could dissolve 11 at.% Th in equilibrium state and up to ca. 12.3 at.% Th under non-equilibrium conditions. Larger Th-Zr/Y solubility range for phases with higher Y concentration was found to be related to the associated symmetry increase, as concluded from synchrotron radiation powder diffraction data. Specifically, introduction of Th into tetragonal YSZ induces evolution towards higher cubic symmetry via flattening of the Zr/YO8 polyhedra. In addition, tetragonal YSZ crystal lattice exhibits strongly anisotropic expansion with concomitant decrease in tetragonality upon the intake of Th. This results in easier accommodation of bigger Th atoms via structural stabilization of longer Zr/Y-O bonding distances which yields more symmetrical coordination of central Zr/Y metal ions by surrounding O atoms. Cubic symmetry is, therefore, more favorable to incorporation of large tetravalent Actinide elements.

Extreme temperatures and pressures were applied to systems based on stabilized zirconia, ZrO2, doped with Ce4+ ions as surrogate for tetravalent Actinides in order to conclude on their long term stability in deep geological underground. Both tetragonal and cubic Yttrium-stabilized ZrO2 (YSZ) exhibit excellent phase and structural stabilities up to 1150 K. In addition, incorporated guest Ce4+ did not show any increase in their mobility at elevated temperatures. Application of external pressure did not induce any structural or phase changes in cubic YSZ doped with 5 at.% Ce as well. However, a corresponding tetragonal analogue with lower Yttrium content exhibits a 2nd order phase transition towards higher cubic symmetry around 9 GPa. Remarkably, no discharge of the guest Ce4+ ions was observed throughout the transition and further upon increase in pressure. This together with T-dependent data indicates excellent affinity of guest Ce atoms with the host YSZ matrices. The parent YSZ phases are, therefore, promising candidates as host materials for long term underground immobilization for radiotoxic tetravalent elements like U, Th or Pu.

Objective. The aim is to describe dietary habits and their association with socio-demographic characteristics in a large nationally representative sample of Italian adolescents aged 11, 13 and 15 years. Materials and methods. Data from the 2018 Italian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey on 58,976 adolescents were analysed to determine eating habits. Logistic regression was used to investigate the association between incorrect dietary habits and potential predictors. Results. 38.3% of boys and 48.1% of girls skipped breakfast and 54.1% did not consume fruit and/or vegetables daily. 15.9% of boys and 11.3% of girls drank carbonated-sugary beverages at least once a day. Incorrect dietary habits were more common among boys, adolescents with lower socio-economic conditions, residents in Southern Italy and those spending more time watching TV. Italian adolescents were more likely to have incorrect dietary habits compared with those from most other countries involved in 2018 HBSC. Conclusions. Action is needed to improve dietary habits among adolescents.

Objective. Problematic Social Media Use (PSMU) has an addictive potential for young users. The aim of this study was to show the prevalence of PSMU across Italian regions and its association with health complaints. Materials and methods. Data are gathered from the Italian 2018 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey using a representative sample of Italian adolescents aged 11, 13 and 15 years (50.6% males). Participants completed self-administered questionnaires assessing PSMU and health complaints. Results. PSMU affects 8.9% adolescents in Italy and the prevalence is quite consistent across regions. 13-year-olds girls showed the highest percentage of PSMU (13%). Problematic users of social media are more likely to report multiple somatic (OR = 1.84 [95% CI 1.82-1.85]) and psychological (OR = 2.60 [95% CI 2.58-2.63]) symptoms. Conclusions. PSMU represents a widespread problem in Italy. National prevention interventions are needed in order to promote a positive use of social media.