CO2 absorption into aqueous amine blended solutions containing monoethanolamine (MEA), N,N-dimethylethanolamine (DMEA), N,N-diethylethanolamine (DEEA) and 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) for post-combustion capture processes

Presently monoethanolamine (MEA) remains the industrial standard solvent for CO2 capture processes. Operating issues relating to corrosion and degradation of MEA at high temperatures and concentrations, and in the presence of oxygen, in a traditional PCC process, have introduced the requisite for higher quality and costly stainless steels in the construction of capture equipment and the use of oxygen scavengers and corrosion inhibitors. While capture processes employing MEA have improved significantly in recent times there is a continued attraction towards alternative solvents systems which offer even more improvements. This movement includes aqueous amine blends which are gaining momentum as new generation solvents for CO2 capture processes. Given the exhaustive array of amines available to date endless opportunities exist to tune and tailor a solvent to deliver specific performance and physical properties in line with a desired capture process. The current work is focussed on the rationalisation of CO2 absorption behaviour in a series of aqueous amine blends incorporating monoethanolamine, N,N-dimethylethanolamine (DMEA), N,N-diethylethanolamine (DEEA) and 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) as solvent components. Mass transfer/kinetic measurements have been performed using a wetted wall column (WWC) contactor at 40°C for a series of blends in which the blend properties including amine concentration, blend ratio, and CO2 loadings from 0.0-0.4 (moles CO2/total moles amine) were systematically varied and assessed. Equilibrium CO2 solubility in each of the blends has been estimated using a software tool developed in Matlab for the prediction of vapour liquid equilibrium using a combination of the known chemical equilibrium reactions and constants for the individual amine components which have been combined into a blend.From the CO2 mass transfer data the largest absorption rates were observed in blends containing 3M MEA/3M Am2 while the selection of the Am2 component had only a marginal impact on mass transfer rates. Overall, CO2 mass transfer in the fastest blends containing 3M MEA/3M Am2 was found to be only slightly lower than a 5M MEA solution at similar temperatures and CO2 loadings. In terms of equilibrium behaviour a slight decrease in the absorption capacity (moles CO2/mole amine) with increasing Am2 concentration in the blends with MEA was observed while cyclic capacity followed the opposite trend. Significant increases in cyclic capacity (26-111%) were observed in all blends when compared to MEA solutions at similar temperatures and total amine concentrations. In view of the reasonable compromise between CO2 absorption rate and capacity a blend containing 3M MEA and 3M AMP as blend components would represent a reasonable alternative in replacement of 5M MEA as a standalone solvent

Controversies in Choledochal Malformation in Children:An International Survey among Pediatric Hepatobiliary Surgeons and Gastroenterologists

Background: While congenital choledochal malformation (CCM) is relatively well known within the pediatric surgical and pediatric gastroenterological communities, many controversies and questions remain. Methods: In this paper, we will discuss the results of an international Delphi survey among members of the European Reference Network RARE-LIVER and of the faculty of the Biliary Atresia and Related Diseases (BARD) network to identify the most common practices as well as controversies regarding diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of this still enigmatic disease. Results: Twenty-two individual respondents completed the survey. While there seems to be agreement on the definitions of CCM, preoperative workup, surgical approach and follow-up still vary considerably. The mainstay of treatment remains the removal of the entire extrahepatic biliary tract, clearance of debris both proximally and distally, followed by reconstruction with (according to 86% of respondents) a Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy. Nonetheless, both laparoscopic and robotic-assisted resections are gaining ground with the suggestion that this might be facilitated by concentration of care and resources in specialized centers. However, long-term outcomes are still lacking. Conclusions: As even post-surgical CCM has to be considered as having premalignant potential, follow-up should be well-organized and continued into adulthood. This seems to be lacking in many centers. International cooperation for both benchmarking and research is paramount to improving care for this rare disease

The Dutch National TissueArchive Portal enables efficient, consistent, and transparent procurement of diagnostic tissue samples for scientific use

Biobanks play a crucial role in enabling biomedical research by facilitating scientific use of valuable human biomaterials. The PALGA foundation-a nationwide network and registry of histo- and cytopathology in the Netherlands-was established to promote the provision of data within and between pathology departments, and to make the resulting knowledge available for healthcare. Apart from the pathology data, we aimed to utilize PALGA's nationwide network to find and access the rich wealth of Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded (FFPE) tissue samples for scientific use. We implemented the Dutch National TissueArchive Portal (DNTP) to utilize PALGA's nationwide network for requesting FFPE tissue samples. The DNTP consists of (1) a centrally organized internet portal to improve the assessing, processing, harmonization, and monitoring of the procurement process, while (2) dedicated HUB-employees provide practical support at peripheral pathology departments. Since incorporation of the DNTP, both the number of filed requests for FFPE tissue samples and the amount of HUB-mediated support increased 55 and 29% respectively. In line, the sample procurement duration time decreased significantly (- 47%). These findings indicate that implementation of the DNTP improved the frequency, efficiency, and transparency of FFPE tissue sample procurement for research in the Netherlands. To conclude, the need for biological resources is growing persistently to enable precision medicine. Here, we access PALGA's national, pathology network by implementation of the DNTP to allow for efficient, consistent, and transparent exchange of FFPE tissue samples for research across the Netherlands

Association of histological features with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma recurrences:a population-based study of 1502 patients in the Netherlands

BACKGROUND: Recurrences remain an important problem in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Little has been described about histological characteristics of the primary laryngeal tumor that may be associated with recurrences. Identifying risk factors for recurrences might help in adapting treatment or follow-up. Using real-life population-based data, we aimed to identify histological features of the primary tumor associated with recurrences and overall survival. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Demographic, clinical and treatment information on all first primary invasive laryngeal tumors diagnosed in 2010–2014 (N = 3705) were extracted from the population-based nationwide Netherlands cancer registry (NCR) and linked to PALGA, the nationwide Dutch pathology registry, to obtain data on histological factors and recurrences. For a random 1502 patients histological information i.e., keratinization, perineural invasion (PNI+), vascular invasion (VI+), growth pattern, degree of differentiation, extracapsular spread (ECS+), cartilage- and bone invasion and extralaryngeal extension, was manually extracted from narrative pathology reports and analyzed for locoregional recurrence and overall survival using cox regression analysis. RESULTS: In total, 299 patients developed a locoregional recurrence and 555 patients died. Keratinization (HR = 0.96 (95%CI: 0.68–1.34) p = 0.79), two or three adverse characteristics (PNI+, VI+, non-cohesive growth) (HR = 1.38 (95% CI: 0.63–3.01) p = 0.42), and ECS+ (HR = 1.38 (95% CI: 0.48–4.02) p = 0.55) were not associated to recurrence. For death, also no significant association was found. CONCLUSION: In this population-based real-life dataset on laryngeal carcinoma in the Netherlands, histological factors were not associated with locoregional recurrences or overall survival, but future studies should investigate the role of these features in treatment decisions. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-022-09533-0

CO2 absorption into aqueous amine blended solutions containing monoethanolamine (MEA), N,N-dimethylethanolamine (DMEA), N,N-diethylethanolamine (DEEA) and 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) for post-combustion capture processes

Presently monoethanolamine (MEA) remains the industrial standard solvent for CO2 capture processes. Operating issues relating to corrosion and degradation of MEA at high temperatures and concentrations, and in the presence of oxygen, in a traditional PCC process, have introduced the requisite for higher quality and costly stainless steels in the construction of capture equipment and the use of oxygen scavengers and corrosion inhibitors. While capture processes employing MEA have improved significantly in recent Limes there is a continued attraction towards alternative solvents systems which offer even more improvements. This movement includes aqueous amine blends which are gaining momentum as new generation solvents for CO2 capture processes. Given the exhaustive array of amines available to date endless opportunities exist to tune and tailor a solvent to deliver specific performance and physical properties in line with a desired capture process. The current work is focussed on the rationalisation of CO2 absorption behaviour in a series of aqueous amine blends incorporating monoethanolamine, N,N-dimethylethanolamine (DMEA), N,N-diethylethanolamine (DEEA) and 2-amino-2-methyl-l-propanol (AMP) as solvent components. Mass transfer/kinetic measurements have been performed using a wetted wall column (WWC) contactor at 40 degrees C for a series of blends in which the blend properties including amine concentration, blend ratio, and CO2 loadings from 0.0-0.4 (moles CO2/total moles amine) were systematically varied and assessed. Equilibrium CO2 solubility in each of the blends has been estimated using a software tool developed in Matlab for the prediction of vapour liquid equilibrium using a combination of the known chemical equilibrium reactions and constants for the individual amine components which have been combined into a blend. From the CO2 mass transfer data the largest absorption rates were observed in blends containing 3 M MEA/3 M Am-2 while the selection of the Am2 component had only a marginal impact on mass transfer rates. Overall. CO2 mass transfer in the fastest blends containing 3 M MEA/3 M Am-2 was found to be only slightly lower than a 5 M MEA solution at similar temperatures and CO2 loadings. In terms of equilibrium behaviour a slight decrease in the absorption capacity (moles CO2/mole amine) with increasing Am-2 concentration in the blends with MEA was observed while cyclic capacity followed the opposite trend. Significant increases in cyclic capacity (26-111%) were observed in all blends when compared to MEA solutions at similar temperatures and total amine concentrations. In view of the reasonable compromise between CO2 absorption rate and capacity a blend containing 3 M MEA and 3 M AMP as blend components would represent a reasonable alternative in replacement of 5 M MEA as a standalone solvent. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd

Implementation of a Multicenter Biobanking Collaboration for Next-Generation Sequencing-Based Biomarker Discovery Based on Fresh Frozen Pretreatment Tumor Tissue Biopsies

BACKGROUND: The discovery of novel biomarkers that predict treatment response in advanced cancer patients requires acquisition of high-quality tumor samples. As cancer evolves over time, tissue is ideally obtained before the start of each treatment. Preferably, samples are freshly frozen to allow analysis by next-generation DNA/RNA sequencing (NGS) but also for making other emerging systematic techniques such as proteomics and metabolomics possible. Here, we describe the first 469 image-guided biopsies collected in a large collaboration in The Netherlands (Center for Personalized Cancer Treatment) and show the utility of these specimens for NGS analysis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Image-guided tumor biopsies were performed in advanced cancer patients. Samples were fresh frozen, vital tumor cellularity was estimated, and DNA was isolated after macrodissection of tumor-rich areas. Safety of the image-guided biopsy procedures was assessed by reporting of serious adverse events within 14 days after the biopsy procedure. RESULTS: Biopsy procedures were generally well tolerated. Major complications occurred in 2.1%, most frequently consisting of pain. In 7.3% of the percutaneous lung biopsies, pneumothorax requiring drainage occurred. The majority of samples (81%) contained a vital tumor percentage of at least 30%, from which at least 500 ng DNA could be isolated in 91%. Given our preset criteria, 74% of samples were of sufficient quality for biomarker discovery. The NGS results in this cohort were in line with those in other groups. CONCLUSION: Image-guided biopsy procedures for biomarker discovery to enable personalized cancer treatment are safe and feasible and yield a highly valuable biobank. The Oncologist 2017;22:33-40Implications for Practice: This study shows that it is safe to perform image-guided biopsy procedures to obtain fresh frozen tumor samples and that it is feasible to use these biopsies for biomarker discovery purposes in a Dutch multicenter collaboration. From the majority of the samples, sufficient DNA could be yielded to perform next-generation sequencing. These results indicate that the way is paved for consortia to prospectively collect fresh frozen tumor tissue

Implementation of a multicenter biobanking collaboration for next-generation sequencing-based biomarker discovery based on fresh frozen pretreatment tumor tissue biopsies

__Background__ The discovery of novel biomarkers that predict treatment response in advanced cancer patients requires acquisition of high-quality tumor samples. As cancer evolves over time, tissue is ideally obtained before the start of each treatment. Preferably, samples are freshly frozen to allow analysis by next-generation DNA/RNA sequencing (NGS) but also for making other emerging systematic techniques such as proteomics and metabolomics possible. Here, we describe the first 469 image-guided biopsies collected in a large coll