Research on the drying kinetics of household food waste for the development and optimization of domestic waste drying technique.

Domestic food waste drying foresees the significant reduction of household food waste mass through the hygienic removal of its moisture content at source. In this manuscript, a new approach for the development and optimization of an innovative household waste dryer for the effective dehydration of food waste at source is presented. Food waste samples were dehydrated with the use of the heated air-drying technique under different air-drying conditions, namely air temperature and air velocity, in order to investigate their drying kinetics. Different thin-layer drying models have been applied, in which the drying constant is a function of the process variables. The Midilli model demonstrated the best performance in fitting the experimental data in all tested samples, whereas it was found that food waste drying is greatly affected by temperature and to a smaller scale by air velocity. Due to the increased moisture content of food waste, an appropriate configuration of the drying process variables can lead to a total reduction of its mass by 87% w/w, thus achieving a sustainable residence time and energy consumption level. Thus, the development of a domestic waste dryer can be proved to be economically and environmentally viable in the future.

Prognostic role of APC and RASSF1A promoter methylation status in cell free circulating DNA of operable gastric cancer patients.

Gastric carcinogenesis is a multistep process including not only genetic mutations but also epigenetic alterations. The best known and more frequent epigenetic alteration is DNA methylation affecting tumor suppressor genes that may be involved in various carcinogenetic pathways. The aim of the present study was to investigate the methylation status of APC promoter 1A and RASSF1A promoter in cell free DNA of operable gastric cancer patients. Using methylation specific PCR, we examined the methylation status of APC promoter 1A and RASSF1A promoter in 73 blood samples obtained from patients with gastric cancer. APC and RASSF1A promoters were found to be methylated in 61 (83.6%) and 50 (68.5%) of the 73 gastric cancer samples examined, but in none of the healthy control samples (p < 0.001). A significant association between methylated RASSF1A promoter status and lymph node positivity was observed (p = 0.005). Additionally, a significant correlation between a methylated APC promoter and elevated CEA (p = 0.033) as well as CA-19.9 (p = 0.032) levels, was noticed. The Kaplan-Meier estimates of survival, significantly favored patients with a non-methylated APC promoter status (p = 0.008). No other significant correlations between APC and RASSF1A methylation status and different tumor variables examined was observed. Serum RASSF1A and APC promoter hypermethylation is a frequent epigenetic event in patients with early operable gastric cancer. The observed correlations between APC promoter methylation status and survival as well as between a hypermethylated RASSF1A promoter and nodal positivity may be indicative of a prognostic role for those genes in early operable gastric cancer. Additional studies, in a larger cohort of patients are required to further explore whether these findings could serve as potential molecular biomarkers of survival and/or response to specific treatments.

Docetaxel plus oxaliplatin in combination with capecitabine as first-line treatment for advanced gastric cancer.

OBJECTIVE: In the present phase II study, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of a docetaxel-oxaliplatin-capecitabine combination as a first-line treatment in patients with advanced gastric cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 27 patients (18 males) with histologically confirmed inoperable gastric adenocarcinoma were recruited. Docetaxel was given (50 mg/m(2) i.v.) on day 1 followed by oxaliplatin (75 mg/m(2) i.v.) also on day 1. Capecitabine (2,750 mg/m(2)) was given orally as two daily divided doses from days 1 to 7. Cycles were repeated every 2 weeks. All patients had measurable disease and 18 of them had a performance status (WHO) of 0. RESULTS: A total of 240 treatment cycles were administered. All patients were evaluable for toxicity. Four patients who discontinued treatment early (having received only 3 chemotherapy cycles) were included as non-responders in an intention-to-treat response analysis. Complete response, partial response, stable disease and progressive disease were observed in 4 (15%), 12 (44%), 3 (11%) and 8 (30%) patients, respectively. The observed response rate was 59%, and the disease control rate (complete response + partial response + stable disease) was 70%. At the time of analysis, 6 patients were still alive and the median survival was 18.0 months. The most common grade III/IV toxicities observed were neutropenia (5%), diarrhea (2%), palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia (2%) and neurotoxicity (1%). All other toxicities were mostly of grade I/II and easily manageable. CONCLUSION: The combination of docetaxel, oxaliplatin and capecitabine in the described mode of administration represents a relatively active and well-tolerated regimen in patients with advanced gastric cancer and warrants further evaluation.