Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

Irish Banks Ie “AIB and BoI” move to reassure investors after poor stress test results

EU-wide analysis questions capacity of Irish duo to absorb losses

  

AIB AND BAND OF IRELAND WILL ISSUE FORMAL STATEMENTS TO THE STOCK MARKETS TO REASSURE INVESTORS IN THE WAKE OF THE STRESS-TEST REPORT.

Irish banks will move to calm stock market nerves on Monday after faring among the worst financial institutions in European stress tests.

Results of EU-wide stress tests by the European Banking Authority (EBA) posed a question mark over both AIB’s and Bank of Ireland’s ability to absorb losses in the event of a prolonged economic downturn.

Both institutions will issue formal statements to the stock markets this morning to reassure investors that their capital position is strong and that the tests do not actually reflect their financial performance.

Their statements are unlikely to differ from those issued at the weekend detailing their immediate reaction to the results.

The EBA found that in an “adverse scenario” AIB’s capital ratio, which measures a bank’s equity against possible risks, such as borrowers failing to repay loans, fell below the level generally required by regulators and markets. The authority found AIB would have a Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio of 4.3% at the end of 2018, below the 5.5% typically required.

Worst performers

In the same circumstance, the EBA found that Bank of Ireland’s ratio would be 6.1%. AIB was one of the worst performers of 51 lenders in Europe. The result prompted speculation the Government would be forced to delay the lender’s planned privatisation, which it took over in 2009 following the previous year’s financial crash.

However, the bank responded by saying that it was well capitalised and its actual CET1 ratio was 13.3 per cent at the end of June. It argued that the results were projections based on assumptions and should not be seen as an indication of the bank’s future performance.

AIB reported a €1 billion profit for the first six months of the year and last Thursday repaid €1.8 billion to the Government.

Bank of Ireland said the test assumed a severe economic downturn. The lender said its capital position was strong and its ratio was 10.7% at the end of June. It made €560 million profit in the first six months of the year.

Ireland wants the EU drug agency to move to Dublin because of Brexit move

LONDON-BASED EUROPEAN MEDICINES AGENCY WILL BE OBLIGED TO LEAVE THE UK AS A RESULT OF LEAVE VOTE

   

The European Medicines Agency is currently based in London’s Canary Wharf.

THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH SIMON HARRIS SAID MOVES WERE AFOOT TO PUT TOGETHER THE CASE FOR A MOVE TO IRELAND AND THERE WOULD BE A MEETING WITH OFFICIALS IN BRUSSELS TO PRESS THE CASE.

Minister for Health Simon Harris is to mount a bid to bring the European Medicines Agency (EMA) from London to Dublin.

The European Union agency will be obliged to leave the UK as a result of Brexit and Mr Harris intends to make the strongest possible case for it to move to Ireland.

The Minister said this weekend that moves were already afoot to put together the case for a move to Ireland and there would be a meeting with officials inBrussels to press the case.

“This is a huge opportunity for Ireland. There are close to 900 direct jobs involved and many indirect spin-off jobs as well,” said a spokeswoman for Mr Harris.

Last week the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association called for a relocation of the agency from London to Ireland after Brexit.

Responding to that call, the spokeswoman for the Minister said he had asked his officials to prepare for a bid to bring the EMA to Dublin.

“We will be making the case that Dublin offers significant advantages as a location, not least the advantage of the English language, a strong pharmaceutical and R&D sector presence, as well as a proactive and committed national medicines agency, the HPRA, which has built up close working relationships with the EMA.”

She added that the Department of Health recognised the importance of the EMA’s work and the need to keep any disruption of this work to a minimum.

“Dublin looks like the best fit to achieve this and comes with other key advantages such as excellent air connectivity with other EU capitals, and our educated and flexible workforce,” she said.

Departmental officials have already begun laying the ground work and in September the Minister will be proposing the formal establishment of an interdepartmental, interagency working group to flesh out the details of Ireland’s bid.

The Minister hopes that early meetings can be arranged with relevant officials in Brussels and other EU member states to present Ireland’s case for hosting the agency, which has an important role in the protection of public health across Europe.

The EMA is responsible for the protection of public and animal health across the EU through its scientific evaluation and supervision of medicines.

The agency, which employs 850 people, is currently based at Canary Wharf in London.

Authorities left in dark after toxic asbestos stone mineral exposed at quarry

ALMOST 3,000 TONS OF ASBESTOS-CONTAINING ROCK DELIVERED IN WICKLOW AND SOUTH DUBLIN

   

BALLINCLARE QUARRY IN SOUTH CO WICKLOW HAS BEEN CLOSED AFTER TESTING REVEALED THE PRESENCE OF NATURALLY OCCURRING ASBESTOS IN THE STONE IT PRODUCES.

Regulatory authorities were not informed for over a month after a cancer-causing mineral was exposed at a Co Wicklow quarry earlier this year, documents show.

Almost 3,000 tons of asbestos-containing rock was distributed to sites around north Wicklow and south Dublin before the presence of the hazardous mineral was notified to authorities, according to documents obtained under freedom of information legislation.

The asbestos was contained in more than 30,000 tons of rock exposed after blasting in Ballinclare quarry in April. Wicklow County Council was informed of the presence of the mineral in late May.

The Kilsaran group, which owns the quarry, said the rock was blasted on April 18th but processing of the material did not start for a time afterwards. During a routine quality control inspection, the company’s technical department discovered an unidentified material and quarantined the area pending test results.

“Once test results were identified, Wicklow County Council were notified and the quarry closed,” said a spokesman.

Since then, the quarry has remained closed and extensive testing for the presence of asbestos has been carried out. While most soil samples showed no or only tiny amounts of asbestos, 10 per cent were found to contain more than 1 per cent asbestos by weight. No asbestos fibres were detected in the air.

In June, Wicklow County Council formally issued Kilsaran with a notice under section 55 of the Waste Management Act 1996. This requires the company to deal with the health and environmental risk resulting from the delivery of the hazardous material to nine sites in the county by sending it back to its source in the quarry. The notice requires the work to be completed within 40 days.

The exact details of the sites have been excised from documents provided under freedom of information. However, there are mentions of new cycle paths in Greystones, the driveways and paths around houses, the service track of a driving range in Co Dublin and the forecourt of a new petrol station.

CRUSHED ROCK?

Kilsaran told the council it had identified 2,739 tons of the blasted and crushed rock which was delivered to about 18 sites in south Dublin and north Wicklow. The remainder of the blasted rock is still in the quarry.

In nine sites, seven of them in Co Wicklow, the material was loose and was not covered with either concrete or asphalt. These sites were covered with heavy plastic and soil as a temporary safety measure.

“This loose, potentially hazardous material poses a risk to public health and the environment,” wrote Michael Boland, executive scientist in the council’s waste management division in an internal memo dated May 31st.

The blasted asbestos-bearing rock in the quarry is not fit for future use, according to the council, which says it is industrial waste that needs to be licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The thousands of tons of returned asbestos-containing rock will be stored in bags in a pit, and covered with dust, a “geo-textile layer”, 100m of stone material and 50cm of topsoil.

Three weeks after the section 55 notice was issued, remediation work had been completed at just four sites.

Decisions had still to be made about the 10 sites where asbestos-containing material was covered with concrete or asphalt before the discovery was made.

The Kilsaran spokesman said this week the remediation process was over 95 per cent complete and is due to end shortly.

The council’s files show that concerns about the issue were raised by a number of individuals. One Greystones resident living across from a building site where asbestos was discovered wanted to know whether this was a health hazard for the family. Another person, who was building a home using 100 tons of material found to be contaminated, said his family has been “left exposed” for a month and had not been told when the material would be removed.

There's little hope for breeding a healthier English bulldog?

A STUDY SHOWS

   

THE ENGLISH BULLDOG’S FLAT FACE AND ADORABLE SKIN FOLDS ARE JUST A COUPLE OF ITS DISTINCTIVE TRAITS. BUT THESE SAME FEATURES THAT MAKE OWNERS GO GAGA ALSO CAUSE A NUMBER OF HEALTH PROBLEMS, LEADING PEOPLE TO WONDER WHETHER THESE DOGS COULD BE BRED TO BE HEALTHIER.

But a new study finds that boosting the dog breed’s health could be difficult, particularly if breeders don’t cross the English bulldog with another breed. The study found that there’s not much genetic diversity within the English bulldog population, which will make it hard to improve their health without going outside the breed to bring new genes into the mix.

“The English bulldog has reached the point where popularity can no longer excuse the health problems that the average bulldog endures,” study co-author Niels Pedersen, of the University of California, Davis’ School of Veterinary Medicine, said in a statement. “Improving health through genetic manipulations [breeding] presumes that enough diversity still exists to improve the breed from within,” Pedersen said. However, “We found that little genetic ‘wiggle room’ still exists in the breed to make additional genetic changes,” he added.

The features of today’s English bulldog arose from hundreds of years of breeding, but changes to the breed’s traits have become particularly rapid in recent decades, Pedersen said. The dogs have been bred for traits that are desirable to people: a flat face, a short nose, skin folds and a “child-like” appearance and personality, the researchers said.

But many of these same features also give rise to health problems. The dogs’ head structure makes it harder for the animal to pant, which can cause the dog to overheat easily in hot weather and make it difficult for the dog to exercise. The breed is also predisposed to skeletal problems that make it very difficult for English bulldogs to conceive and give birth naturally. In addition, the skin folds make the dogs susceptible todermatitis (skin inflammation) and certain eye conditions. The English bulldogs’ genetics also make them prone to autoimmune disorders and other immune system problems, the researchers said.

In the new study, the researchers wanted to determine whether there was enough genetic diversity within the English bulldog breed to make improvements to the dogs’ health from within the existing gene pool. Genetic diversity refers to the variety of genes within a population.

They analyzed the DNA of 102 English bulldogs, mostly from the United States. They also included 37 bulldogs that had recently visited the vet because of health problems, to determine whether the genes of “sick” bulldogs were significantly different from those of the other dogs.

The study confirmed that the English bulldog population has low genetic diversity, which is the result of breeding that was highly focused on certain traits, the researchers said.

The loss of genetic diversity was particularly severe in a region of the genome that regulates normal immune response, the researchers said. And ongoing attempts to breed English bulldogs so that they have new coat colors and a more compact body type could actually reduce genetic diversity even further, they said.

One way to reduce the health problems of English bulldogs might be to breed them with other dog breeds, the researchers said. Indeed, some breeders have started to cross the English bulldog with an American breed called the Olde English Bulldogge to create the Continental Bulldog, in hopes of reducing the breed’s health problems. However, many breeders feel that any significant changes from the current standard in the breed would mean that the resulting dogs would no longer be English bulldogs, the researchers said.

Birds may hold the key to more efficient drones

RESEARCHERS STUDY AVIAN FLYING TECHNIQUES TO LEARN HOW TO MINIMISE ENERGY CONSUMPTION.

    

RESEARCHERS HAVE BEEN COPYING AVIAN AERIAL TECHNIQUES TO TEACH INTELLIGENT DRONES HOW TO COVER LONG DISTANCES WITHOUT NEEDING A LOT OF ENERGY.

Researchers have been taking flying lessons from birds, copying their aerial techniques to teach intelligent drones how to cover long distances without needing a lot of energy.

Migratory birds can cover thousands of kilometres between summer and winter nesting locations, often saving energy by hitching a free ride on warm rising air currents.

While these currents can be very turbulent, the birds have developed methods for exploiting the rising air without being overcome by its choppiness.

Researchers from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies at La Jolla,California, the US, are teaching these two tricks – thermal soaring and surviving turbulence – to long-distance autonomous gliders.

The researchers’ goal is to develop a glider that can cover great distances while requiring very little energy.

NEW METHODS?

To this end, Dr Terrence Sejnowski and his colleagues developed numerical models of atmospheric flows in a rising thermal and combined them with reinforcement learning algorithms for a glider.

The glider then learned by repeated exposure how to move through the thermal, gaining altitude for easy sailing and reducing risks to itself if it got too rough or the thermal weakened.

It learned from two cues – how fast the thermal was rising and how much the turbulence twisted the aircraft.

The researchers showed the glider could stay within the thermal where the lift was strongest but still survive the rough conditions.

The glider also learned how to stay out of trouble by following “risk-averse strategies”, the researchers report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, published on Monday evening.

The authors say the results of the research could be used to develop autonomous gliders that can travel long distances with minimal energy consumption.

Nasa to launch probe to investigate ‘Armageddon’ asteroid

THE ASTEROID WILL PASS BETWEEN EARTH AND THE MOON IN 2135.

     

NASA IS PLANNING TO LAUNCH A PROBE TO COLLECT ROCK SAMPLES FROM AN ASTEROID IT FEARS COULD ONE DAY HIT THE EARTH.

The asteroid, named Bennu, can be seen from Earth as it crosses our orbit every six years.

Bennu, which is around 500 metres in diameter at its equator and travels around the sun at 63,000mph, will pass between Earth and the moon in 2135.

“That 2135 fly-by is going to tweak Bennu’s orbit, potentially putting it on course for the Earth later that century,” Dante Lauretta, professor of planetary science at Arizona University,

“It may be destined to cause immense suffering and death,” he added.

Mr Lauretta, Nasa’s principal investigator in charge of the Osiris-Rex probe mission to Bennu, launching in September, said the probe will map the asteroid, pick up some rock samples and then head back to Earth. He said information on the asteroid’s size, mass and composition could be vital data for future generations.

Osiris-Rex will arrive at Bennu in 2018 and will spend a year surveying the asteroid’s chemical makeup, mineralogy and geologic history. Information gathered during the observation will help scientists understand how its course is affected by absorbing and radiating sunlight as heat.

The probe will then take a sample from the asteroid before heading back to Earth for 2023.  

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG.

IDA set to negotiate with UK companies to relocate to Ireland after Brexit vote

THE AGENCY IS TO BEGIN NEGOTIATIONS WITH COMPANIES LOCATED IN UK THAT MAY WANT TO RELOCATE TO IRELAND.

   

MARTIN SHANAHAN (picture left), THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF IDA IRELAND, SAYS THE STATE AGENCY WILL SOON BEGIN NEGOTIATIONS WITH BANKS AND OTHER COMPANIES LOCATED IN THE UK THAT MAY WANT TO RELOCATE TO IRELAND FOLLOWING THE BREXIT VOTE.

Martin Shanahan, the chief executive of IDA Ireland, says the State agency will soon begin negotiations with banks and other companies located in the UK that may want to relocate to Ireland following the Brexit vote.

Mr Shanahan stressed his first preference was for Britain to remain within the European Union (EU), but he said the IDA has “done its homework” on how to maximise foreign investment for Ireland now that the UK has voted to leave.

“We have been in discussion with potential clients [who may choose to relocate to Ireland from the UK] for months. They approached us,” said Mr Shanahan. “We have a good view on the potential for Ireland.

He said discussions with potential foreign investors could begin as soon as “next week, or the week after”.

IDA’s existing 1,200 client companies are “still digesting the news”, he said. Mr Shanahan yesterday wrote to the 1,200 to say Ireland remains committed to the EU and is effectively still open for business.

He said Ireland’s “stability” would be an attractive feature when attracting new investment in the midst of the uncertainty created for the UK by the vote. Mr Shanahan also agreed that financial services and technology were two sectors where Ireland would be particularly well placed to pick up fresh foreign investment that might otherwise locate in the UK.

“But we intend to push for investment right across the portfolio, including life sciences and engineering,” he said. “Our mandate prior to Brexit was to maximise investment for Ireland, and nothing has changed in that regard.”

TERMS OF EXIT?

Fergal O’Brien, chief economist at the employers’ lobby Ibec, said the UK is now likely to “become more aggressive” in securing foreign investment to protect its economy, which could increase competition faced by the IDA.

He said a lot depends on the terms of the exit deal given to the UK, including its level of access to the EU’s internal market: “It is in Ireland’s interests to get as much stability as possible for the UK.”

Mr O’Brien suggested that while other EU states might want to impose tough measures on the UK to discourage other countries from exiting, Ireland “needs to establish at EU level that we have skin in the game” and push for leniency.

Enterprise Ireland, meanwhile, warned against the effects of exchange rate volatility for Irish exporters into the UK. It said it would also support Irish exporters to devise medium-term diversification plans.

“In addition to our team in the UK, we have put in place a dedicated email address, phone-line and team for Enterprise Ireland clients to respond to their immediate concerns and issues,” said the agency.

Ryanair and Aer Lingus could be hit by fall in passengers

INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION SAYS WEAKER STERLING MAY CUT NUMBER OF UK TRAVELLERS

   

IAG SAID IT NO LONGER EXPECTS TO GENERATE AN ABSOLUTE OPERATING PROFIT INCREASE SIMILAR TO 2015.

Ryanair and Aer Lingus parent, International Airlines’ Group (IAG), could be hit by a fall in UK passenger numbers following the Brexit vote, according to a leading industry body.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicts that a weakened sterling and shrinking economy could cut UK airline passenger numbers, which hit 250 million last year, by 3 to 5% by 2020.

A report the association published yesterday shows that Ryanair and IAG, owner of Aer Lingus, are amongst the airlines that are most exposed to a fall in air travel.

The UK is one of Ryanair’s biggest markets, accounting for more than 30 million of the 100-plus million passengers that it flies every year.

This gave it a large share of the 117 million people that flew between the UK and the rest of the EU last year. It also employs 4,000 people there.

IAG’s other airlines include British Airways, which carried more than 43 million people last year. The group warned in a statement following the vote that it does not expect this year’s growth in operating profits to match that of 2015.

Ryanair’s chief marketing officer, Kenny Jacobs, said that the Irish company would campaign to have the UK remains in the EU’s Open Skies regime, which allows airlines to fly freely between member states.

However, he indicated that Ryanair is more likely to spend money on countries within the EU, such as the Republic, Germany, Spain and Italy. “It’s going to mean that when we are looking at investing, we will look outside the UK,” he said.

The vote sent travel stocks tumbling. IAG fell 22.54% to 409 pence sterling in London. Ryanair shares were down 11.77% at €12.07 in Dublin.

Shaun Quinn, chief executive of State body, Fáilte Ireland, responsible for promoting tourism to the Republic, said it was too early to speculate on the likely impact of the vote on the industry.

“Fáilte Ireland will be monitoring any short term impacts of a devalued sterling on tourist numbers to Ireland and working with businesses in the sector to develop strategies to address any arising competitiveness challenges,” he said.

The Irish Hotels Federation warned that there was a risk a risk that economic uncertainty and a weaker sterling would hit visitor numbers from the UK.

Republic attracts three million tourists from Britain every year. The hospitality industry fears that this number could decline as the Brexit fallout continues.

Sligo seeking funding as European Volunteer Capital

     

CONCERN HAS BEEN EXPRESSED THAT NO FUNDING HAS YET BEEN ARRANGED FOR SLIGO’S DESIGNATION AS EUROPEAN VOLUNTEERING CAPITAL 2017.

The manager of Sligo Volunteer Centre Ciara Herity told councillors last week that while the supports from the Municipality were in place, no concrete funding was secured.

“We are the first non-country capital winner. It’s very exciting, for Sligo and for Ireland. The uniqueness of Sligo winning is that we are a small rural county on the periphery of Europe. It’s a privilege to have it,” she said.

Cathaoirleach of the County Council Cllr Rosaleen O’Grady said she was “concerned that they’ve no funding” but added that they had “the right woman in Marian Harkin in Europe” to help them source funding.

The MEP is Patron of Sligo Volunteer Centre and attended the presentation in person last week.

Sligo beat seven other cities in the running for the 2017 designation and previous winners include London, Lisbon and Barcelona.

Sligo Volunteer Centre celebrates its 10 year anniversary in 2017 and the designation will give due recognition to that.

M/s Herity said the designation would bring more European visitors here along with an economic boost to the town and county.

It’s hoped Sligo will host some national events: Volunteer Ireland, Special Olympics, Foroige and the Irish Girl Guides have been approached about hosting events here next year.

Cllr Sean MacManus said it was “a fantastic achievement for a small county on the periphery of Europe”. He said it was going to be difficult to match London and Lisbon “especially in view of the fact that we’ve no funding.”

“Even given Sligo County Council’s straitened financial situation to include some forming of funding to back them up,” he said.

Cllr Sinead Maguire also congratulated Sligo Volunteer Centre and said “It does reflect the spirit of volunteering that we have here in Sligo. We’re worthy winners.”

Council Chief Executive Ciarán Hayes is now tasked with designing a programme of events, actively pursuing sponsorship and raising awareness.

Marked reduction in PSA testing

    

A US TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATION AGAINST PSA-BASED SCREENING HAD A MAJOR EFFECT, GARY CULLITON HEARD AT THE JOHN FITZPATRICK IRISH PROSTATE CANCER CONFERENCE. SINCE THIS POLICY DECISION WAS MADE, THERE HAS BEEN A CONSIDERABLE IMPACT ON RATES OF DETECTION

Policy decisions are rapidly influencing primary care practice in the US. There has been a decrease in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening, and the urology response has been an increase in the use of active surveillance in men with low-risk disease. Recent years have also seen the advent of surgical cohorts with more intermediate and high-risk disease.

A recommendation against PSA screening may be leading to later stage disease at diagnosis, a meeting in Dublin has heard.

There has been a shift toward more advanced disease at diagnosis, and decreased use of PSA-based screening may worsen this trend.

The rapid decrease in PSA use was concerning, said Prof Michael Blute, Chief of Urology at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Surgery at Harvard. This would continue until there was a change at policy level, he said, in a talk on policy decisions and the changing face of prostate cancer at the John Fitzpatrick Irish Prostate Cancer Conference in Dublin recently. His talk dealt in particular with diagnosis and management in the US.

More surgical patients are seen with advanced or adverse pathology. “My hope is that smarter prostate cancer screening methods will be introduced,” said Prof Blute. One of his concerns centres on “reaching primary care practices.”

In 2012, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended against PSA-based screening for prostate cancer. There was moderate or high certainty that the service had no net benefit or that the harms outweighed the benefits, said the Task Force, which discouraged use of the service.

Since this policy decision was made, there has been a major impact on rates of detection. Urologists order between 7 and 10 per cent of the PSA tests in the country. The vast majority of PSA tests are ordered by primary care practices.

Dramatic reduction

A dramatic reduction was seen in the utilisation of PSA testing in primary care practices (Ahmedin Jemal, 2015). There were then conflicting results from the PLCO and ERSPC trials and the case against screening appeared to strengthen.

Following the 2012 USPSTF recommendation, there has been a 20 per cent reduction in the use of PSA testing in the United States and rates would continue to fall, said Prof Blute. “The argument about PSA screening became an ‘all or none’ debate. The ‘none’ side won out. This is having a significant impact for men diagnosed with prostate cancer at our practice.”

Overall incidence among the cohort of men aged 50 and older in the US dropped off in 2012. However, the presentation stage — for localised disease or metastatic disease — has not changed; it lags behind. For the first time in two decades, the incidence of metastatic disease among men aged 75 years or older is starting to creep up.

“My fear is that primary care practices are not listening to American Urological Association (AUA) guidelines. They are not listening to National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines. They are listening to the USPSTF,” Prof Blute said.

Since the 2012 USPSTF recommendation, there has been a 28 per cent reduction in the diagnosis of prostate cancer in the US (Barocas DA, J Urol, 2015). Equal reductions have been seen in the diagnosis of men with low-, intermediate- and high-risk cancers. “This is an extremely rapid change and it is a real concern for men with intermediate- or high-risk disease who will experience delay in diagnosis,” said Prof Blute. Delayed diagnoses would be a feature and an increase in the incidence of men with metastatic disease at diagnosis was sure to follow, he said.

The recommendation has been associated with decreased PSA screening in all age groups, decreased rates of prostate biopsies and decreased incidence of prostate cancer. There has been no change in the distribution of low-, intermediate- and high-grade disease. There have been no changes thus far among men aged between 50 and 74. Increases in men presenting with metastatic disease 75 years and older are now seen (Ahmedin Jemal, 2015). Men in the 50-to-70 years bracket would have a similar response if there was continued reduction in the utilisation of PSA, Prof Blute predicted. An increase in absolute and relative amounts of late stage prostate cancer would be seen, he predicted.

Increased numbers.

A hugely increased number of men with low-risk disease were identified following the introduction of PSA testing.

Seventy-to-80 per cent of the diagnoses were low-risk. Now, almost 40 per cent of men with newly diagnosed prostate cancer are placed — appropriately — in active surveillance protocols (National Cancer Database, 2004 to 2013).

Between 2004 and 2012, intermediate- and high-risk men were increasingly seen among surgical cohorts. Low-risk men may not benefit from aggressive therapy, but because of progression or repeat sampling biopsies that reveal higher grade disease in 20 per cent of cases, men may be upstaged to intermediate risk disease.

Data covering private practice urology in the US showed a drastic reduction in use of ADT monotherapy for patients with the highest risk on Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment (CAPRA) score after 2004 (Cooperberg, JAMA, 2009). Use of radical prostatectomy more than doubled. There was a continued reduction in primary androgen deprivation therapy as monotherapy among men aged 75 and older. There was also an increase in the utilisation of more aggressive therapy for patients who had higher-risk disease.

Pathologically, there has been a reverse stage shift: operations have been performed on more men with higher-risk disease. From 2000 to 2010, the number of men who underwent radical prostatectomies for low-risk disease, dropped drastically — from 50 to 30 per cent (Silberstein, Cancer, 2011). By contrast, the number of men with high- and intermediate-risk disease increased. More and more men with adverse pathology results would be seen following radical prostatectomy, said Prof Blute.

The number of men operated on with organ-confined disease was falling, but more men with extra-prostatic disease were seen.

However, there was a reduction in operations on men with primary pathologic Gleason Score Six disease.

Low-risk tumours are more frequently treated with active surveillance in the US, while high-risk tumours are more frequently treated with surgery. The recommendation against PSA screening is leading to a reverse Stage migration.

Prof Blute spoke about the role of MRI in surgical management of prostate cancer. There would be an increased tendency to operate on more aggressive tumours. Some cancer cells may be left behind (increased positive surgical margin rates) and there would probably be less favourable cancer control outcomes locally — particularly where surgery was used as single-modality treatment. Use of adjuvant therapies and pelvic lymph node dissection would also increasingly be considered.

Men in the high-risk cate-gory are a heterogenous group. Those with high-risk disease who have a single adverse variable do better than men with multiple adverse variables. In terms of management, surgery is included in guidelines by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) for cases of resectable disease, but unlike breast or colorectal cancer, algorithm surgery has not been tested in a multimodal fashion with radiation and hormone therapy.

Where surgery is used for initial management in high-risk disease, overall 10-year cancer-specific survival is 80-to-90 per cent (Stewart, 2015). Many men do well, where their high-risk disease is managed using surgery. Fifteen-year outcomes were published on a series of men with clinical T3 disease who had operations. The complication rate among these men — who underwent wide local excision of their cancers — was studied. They had good outcomes — equivalent to T2 disease. In terms of urinary control, 80 per cent of these men were completely dry (Ward, 2005, BJUI).

MRI is used to stage these patients prior to surgery. The same techniques used in low-risk men cannot be used to operate on men with high-risk disease. Extended pelvic lymph node dissections are recommended as the node positive rate for high risk disease will be 10 to 15 per cent. There would be risk associated with dividing the lateral pelvic fascia and releasing the neurovascular bundle and not achieving negative surgical margins. Therefore, an extrafascial approach is favoured for men with high-risk disease.

An objective was to elevate the rectoprostatic fascia so there was a wide surgical margin in the patient, said Prof Blute.

Using wide local excision surgery as an initial treatment among 1,800 men with high risk disease, 57 per cent of men ultimately had pathologically organ-confined disease and did well (Boorijian, J Urol, 2008). Ten-year local recurrence-free survival was 90 per cent. Local recurrence-free survival in these men (who often had at least T3 disease) was equivalent to that in men with T2 disease.

Profiling

Increasingly, a biomarker has been used. The Decipher test is a genomic classifier. Some 545 Mayo Clinic patients with high-risk disease were selected following radical prostatectomies (Erho, Crisan, PLOS One, 2013). These men had biochemical recurrence and a test was sought that would predict metastases.

Some 192 cases developed metastases. Transcriptome-wide expression profiling was carried out to identify signalling pathways associated with metastases.

If the Deci¬p¬her score indicated a low risk, only 2.4 per cent of men ultimately demonstr-ated metastases. The genomic classifier was judged to yield independent prognostic information in a multivariable analysis. The Decipher test was found to be the only significant variable for detecting rapid metastases and it performed well, compared to the CAPRA-S and Stephenson nomograms (Klein, Euro Urology 2015).

The Decipher test provided additional stratification in terms of risk (Ashley Ross, Johns Hopkins). Molecular stratification has been needed to classify men with high-risk disease better. There is a concern about additional toxicities in these men (who have undetectable PSA, are responding well to their surgery and have good quality of life).

Multivariable analysis demonstrated that genomic high-risk men, who received ART, had higher metastases-free survival, compared to salvage radiation treatment. An 80 per cent reduction in risk of metastases was demonstrated, among the Decipher high-risk group getting ART — rather than salvage — therapy.

Metastates

This would hopefully inform the debate about the timing of radiation treatment in the post-op setting, said Prof Blute. The genomic classifier would be very helpful in men who had high risk disease. Data showed that significant numbers of men with adverse pathologies did not develop clinical metastases. They do well and do not need adjuvant therapies.

Introducing a genomic classifier for this group of men would be very valuable in stratifying who needed the therapies and when. In patients with adverse pathology and a low-risk genomic classifier result, a careful eye should be kept on the PSA results, data indicate. More prospective studies were required, said Prof Blute.

In the current era, aggressive treatment of localised prostate cancer was increasingly being reserved for those men who needed it the most, and active surveillance for men with low-risk disease.

In the future, surgical cohorts would be increasingly intermediate- and high-risk patients, and focus must be on managing adverse pathology after surgery to achieve long-term local control of prostate cancer, added Prof Blute.

Crops grown on Mars soil are safe to eat

   

ECOLOGIST WIEGER WAMELINK INSPECTING THE PLANTS GROWN ON SOIL SIMILAR TO THAT ON MARS AT THE WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY.

Results from trials using soil like that on Mars hold promise for future settlements on planet

Dutch scientists said crops of four vegetables and cereals grown on soil similar to that on Mars have been found safe to eat, amid plans for the first manned mission to the planet.

Abundant harvests of radishes, peas, rye and tomatoes all grown on the soil were found to contain “no dangerous levels” of heavy metals, said the team from Wageningen University on Thursday.

“These remarkable results are very promising,” said senior ecologist Wieger Wamelink. “We can actually eat the radishes, peas, rye and tomatoes, and I am very curious what they will taste like.”

Future Mars settlers will have to take food supplies with them and then plant crops in order to survive.

So using soil developed by Nasa to resemble that of the Red Planet, the university in the Netherlands has been experimenting since 2013 and has managed to raise 10 crops.

There is uncertainty still about their absorbing the high levels of heavy metals such as cadmium, copper and lead present in Mars soil. Further tests are needed on the other six crops, including potatoes, in research being backed by a crowd-funding campaign.

Nasa plans a manned trip to Mars within the next 10 to 15 years or so, and similar projects are being pursued by US billionaire Elon Musk and Dutch company Mars One, tentatively aiming to set up human colonies on the Red Planet.

The Mars One project has backed the Wageningen work and is deciding on the final 40 out of 100 candidates hoping to be its astronauts.

But unlike any Nasa mission, Mars One is a one-way trip: Whoever joins this journey to the foreign world is never, ever coming back to Earth, Fox 5 News reported.

Mars One CEO Bas Landsdorp estimates the project will cost US$7 billion (S$9.5 billion). He plans to pay for it in part by turning the mission into a reality show.

But space expert Neil deGrasse Tyson is sceptical.

“I try not to get in anybody’s way who is dreaming big,” he told Business Insider after Mars One announced the project in February last year. “But I’m sceptical it can be accomplished on the timescale” given.