Gadget: Countertop Kitchen Robot

Suvie

Designed to cook for complete meals for 4 persons, Suvie intelligently refrigerates and cooks meals using multiple zones.

There are two cooking chambers, each of the chambers can broil, steam, sous vide, slow cook as well as roast and bake.

Watch video at You Tube (1:45 minutes) on how it works . . . . .

Study: New Prostate Cancer Test Could Avoid Unnecessary Biopsies

A urine test based on University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center research could have avoided one third of unnecessary prostate cancer biopsies while failing to detect only a small number of cancers, according to a validation study that included more than 1,500 patients. The findings appear in the March issue of the Journal of Urology.

The MyProstateScore test, which is being commercialized by LynxDX, a U-M startup company, measures levels of cancer-specific genes in a patient’s urine. It is based on U-M research that discovered that half of all prostate tumors harbor a certain genetic anomaly in which the genes TMPRSS2 and ERG relocate on a chromosome and fuse together — creating an on-switch for prostate cancer development.

Currently, one of doctors’ best methods for detecting prostate cancer is a blood test for prostate-specific antigen, commonly known as the PSA test. Elevated PSA levels may indicate cancer, but the majority of men with an elevated PSA do not actually have prostate cancer.

To determine which patients do and do not have cancer, men with an elevated PSA test undergo an invasive procedure called a transrectal biopsy. Prostate biopsies are uncomfortable for patients and carry a small risk of complications. MRI scans are also used to detect prostate cancer, but these can also miss cancerous lesions and come with much higher costs and limited availability.

“Our ultimate goal was to determine whether the MyProstateScore test could be a practical, reliable test that could rule out the need for more costly or invasive testing in men referred for a prostate biopsy,” says study lead author Jeffrey Tosoian, M.D., M.P.H., a clinical lecturer in urology at Michigan Medicine.

Tosoian and two of his co-authors were founders of LynxDX and hold an equity stake in the company.

Not all prostate cancers are equally worrisome. Many arise later in life and are so slow growing that the best course of action is to simply monitor them. It is patients with these slow growing cancers or no cancer who, despite elevated PSA levels, could be spared from the more invasive or expensive procedures if doctors had better tests, the researchers say.

The validation study included patients seen at academic health centers and in community health settings. Among these 1,525 patients, 338 — 22% — had cancers detected on biopsy that were group grade 2 or higher, meaning they were serious enough to warrant immediate treatment.

If the MyProstateScore test had been available to patients in the study, 387 biopsies that found no cancer or slow-growing cancer could have been avoided, the study found. Meanwhile, the test would have missed only 10 clinically significant cancers that would have warranted immediate treatment.

“The data show that this straightforward, secondary testing approach could reduce the use of more costly and invasive procedures following a PSA test,” Tosoian says.

Source: University of Michigan

In Pictures: Potato Dishes Around the World (7)

Causa rellena, Peru

Blitva, Croatia

Potato stir-fry, China

Paprikás krumpli, Hungary

Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá, Portugal

Limited Transmission of COVID-19 from Open Schools but Teachers were Affected

Most countries introduced school closures during the spring of 2020 despite uncertainty regarding the effectiveness in containing SARS-CoV-2. In Sweden, upper secondary schools moved online while lower secondary schools remained open. A comparison of parents with children in the final year of lower secondary and first year of upper secondary school shows that remaining open had limited consequences for the overall transmission of the virus.

However, the infection rate doubled among lower secondary teachers relative to upper secondary ones. The infection rate among partners of lower secondary teachers was 30 per cent higher than among their upper secondary counterparts.

On 18 March 2020, Swedish upper secondary schools moved to online instruction while lower secondary schools remained open. This facilitates a comparison of infections and disease between groups that are comparable in other regards. In the study, all PCR-confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 and all healthcare-registered cases of COVID-19 until the summer break are linked to register data on families and teachers in lower and upper secondary schools.

Since the age of the student is likely to correlate with the severity of symptoms, student infectiousness and various types of risk behaviour, it is crucial to compare parents of children close in age. According to the study, the risk of infection was 17 per cent higher among parents whose youngest child studied in the final year of lower secondary rather than the first year of upper secondary school. Had lower secondary schools moved online, the estimates correspond to 500 fewer detected cases among a total of 450,000 lower secondary parents (4.5 per cent of the population). This can be compared to 53,000 PCR-confirmed cases in the total population until the summer break in mid-June.

Comparing lower to upper secondary teachers, we find that keeping schools open doubled the risk of both PCR-confirmed infection and healthcare treatment due to COVID-19. Among 124 occupations, upper secondary teachers had a median risk of infection while lower secondary were the 7th most affected. This comparison excludes healthcare workers who had markedly different access to PCR testing. By the end of June, 79 out of 39,500 lower secondary teachers had been hospitalised due to COVID-19, one of whom died. According to the study, this number would have been down to 46 if lower secondary schools had closed.

30 percent higher risk among partners

It is well known that SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted within households. The study finds that the risk of a positive PCR test was 30 per cent higher among partners of lower secondary teachers than among their upper secondary counterparts. The estimates for more serious cases of COVID-19 are somewhat lower than for PCR tests but – just as for parents – these estimates are imprecise.

Closing schools is a costly measure with potentially long-run detrimental effects for students. The results for parents are in line with theoretical models predicting a limited impact of school closures on the general transmission of SARS-CoV-2. In an international comparison, the precautionary measures undertaken in Swedish schools are best described as mild. Thus, strict measures in open schools cannot explain the relatively minor impact on the overall rate of transmission. The results for teachers suggest that further precautionary measures could be considered.

The study does not analyse the impact of school closures on virus transmission among students. We note, however, that there are few cases of serious illness among the young. In particular, zero deaths from COVID-19 had been recorded among 2–19-year-olds in Sweden by mid-summer 2020.

Source: Uppsala University

Eggs Mimosa

Ingredients

4 hard-boiled eggs, shelled
2-1/2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 cup tomato sauce
salt and pepper
1 cup béchamel sauce
2 hard-boiled egg yolks and chopped parsley to garnish

Method

1. Halve the hard-boiled eggs lengthwise.
2. Remove the yolks carefully with a teaspoon, mash with a fork and mix with the butter, 3 tablespoons of the tomato sauce and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Fill the egg whites with the mixture, and place in a buttered ovenproof dish.
4. Cover with a lid or foil and heat through in a moderate oven (350°F) for 10-15 minutes.
5. Blend together the béchamel sauce and the remaining tomato sauce, both piping hot. Pour the sauce over the eggs, sprinkle with the hard-boiled egg yolks worked through a sieve and the chopped parsley, and serve immediately.

Makes 2 to 4 servings.

Source: The Cook’s Book

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