Investigating the Expression of EGFR And FGFR4 Genes in Patients with Lung Cancer

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Lung cancer is a disorder that is caused by genetic and epigenetic changes and activates oncogenes and inactivates tumor suppressor genes. The aim of this study is to quantitative evaluation of EGFR and FGFR4 genes expression level in blood samples of lung cancer in compare with normal people to investigate the role of these two genes as biomarkers during lung cancer diagnosis and screening. METHODS: This case-control study was performed on 50 blood samples of lung cancer patients compared with 50 normal controls.. Total RNA from Blood samples were extracted and cDNA is synthesized. The specific primers for detection of markers are designed and expression level of BRIP1, PALB2 in presence of gene GAPDH by using Real Time PCR method was quantitatively studied. FINDINGS: Significant increase was observed in the expression of target biomarkers in cancer patients compared to control population. Results showed quantitative increase of FGFR4 and EGFR genes with 4.46 and 3.03 fold respectively for lung cancer in compare with normal samples (p=0.003). Also, there was a significant relationship between grade of the disease and biomarkers expression level, so that with increasing the stage and degree of severity of cancer, the expression of biomarkers increased (p=0.003). CONSLUSION: Based on this study results we could predict the expression level of (EGFR, FGFR4) gens in suffered patients quantitatively which could use as biomarker indicator during screening of lung cancer samples

Adsorption Kinetics of Copolymers and Sulfonated Polymers for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Polymer flooding is one of the most mature enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques, where the injection water viscosity is increased through addition of a high molecular weight polymer. In field operations, one of the most critical parameters for successful polymer flooding is the polymer adsorption. During transport, the polymer will irreversibly adsorb onto the reservoir rock, with the exact extent of adsorption depending on reservoir/polymer properties, such as the polymer composition and molecular weight, mineralogy of the reservoir, brine composition, reservoir temperature etc. For each reservoir, there will be an upper limit of adsorption above which sufficient polymer will be removed from solution to make the process uneconomic. Copolymers of acrylamide (AM) and acrylic acid (AA) have been the most prominent chemicals to be applied, whereas sulfonated polymers containing acrylamide tertiary butyl sulfonic acid (ATBS) have been used for higher temperature and/or salinity conditions. In this work, it is demonstrated that there is a large kinetic component to the adsorption for a range of six polymer species on silica sand. The work was carried out in a field composition brine at a temperature of 31°C. The polymers consisted of AA-AM co-polymers (20-33 % AA) and AM-AA-ATBS ter-polymers (up to 15 mol% ATBS). While an adsorption of ~20 µg/g was measured after 24 hours, this increased continuously over 20-30 days for the AA-AM co-polymers. The same trend was observed for the AM-AA-ATBS terpolymers – with an adsorption at 24 hours of ~15 µg/g increasing over time to 36 ug/g. Two polymer species (33 % AA & 15 % ATBS) were then taken forward to dynamic core flood experiments where a novel shut-in procedure was used to highlight the kinetic behavior. The breakthrough profiles were matched via numerical simulation using a simple isotherm and kinetic constant. These results were then extrapolated to other conditions to highlight the potential for misinterpretation of traditional core flooding approaches. To the authors knowledge, the kinetic adsorption and its impact has not been very extensively discussed in the literature. The ability to accurately plan polymer flooding projects is essential to fully optimise recovery performance as efficiently as possible, minimise the environmental footprint and reliably predict polymer breakthrough for production chemistry requirements. Thus, a complete understanding of the polymer adsorption and adsorption kinetics is critical for the continued development of polymer EOR

Opium as a Risk Factor for Bladder Cancer: A Population-based Case-control Study in Iran

Bladder cancer (BC) is the most common genitourinary system malignancy in humans. Consumption of opium and its derivatives, maybe a risk factor possibly in Iran. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between consumption of opium and its derivatives and the incidence of BC. METHODS: In an individually matched case-control study in Shiraz (located in the south of Iran), 198 patients with BC and 396 healthy individuals (matched in age, sex and residence (urban/rural)) were investigated. Data about consumption of opium and its derivatives, tobacco, alcohol and diet were collected using a structured valid and reliable questionnaire. Crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were computed using conditional logistic regression models. RESULTS: Opium consumption was associated with an increased risk of BC with an adjusted OR = 3.9 (95% CI: 1.2 - 12.0). Moreover, a considerable dose-response relationship was observed between the opium consumption and its derivatives and the incidence of BC; comparing to no users, the odds ratios of low and high consumptions were 3.3 (95% CI: 0.5 - 23.1) and 4.9 (95% CI: 1.1 - 21.9) respectively. CONCLUSION: Opium consumption can be a potential strong risk factor for BC in Iran