STUDY OF PRESSURE AND COMPOSITION EFFECT ON MULTICOMPONENT MEMBRANE SEPARATION INVOLVING HEAVY HYDROCARBON GAS PENTANE

This work study the performance and characterize polyimide hollow fiber membranes for the separation of CO2-CH- C5H12 at difference pressure and feed composition as well as the effect of heavy hydrocarbon gas C5H12 on membrane performance. In Malaysia, approximately 13 trillion ft³ of high CO2 natural gas field are uneconomical to be developed. Development of high CO2 gas fields requires prudent management of carbon dioxide capture, transportation, and storage to enable commercialization of these fields. Research conducted on CO2 separation using membrane is limited especially on multicomponent and involving heavy hydrocarbon gas. Scope of experimental study focus on pure gas, gas mixture with and without heavy hydrocarbon gas C5H12 as well as varies the feed pressure from 10 bar to 18 bar and CO2 feed composition from 10% to 90%. Research methodologies include fabrication of membrane module, membrane characterization using FTIR, FESEM, and performances testing with CO2SMU and GC. FTIR finding show that membrane matrix’s polar sites enhance the preferential interaction and solubility of CO2 gas molecules, resulting in higher CO2 permeates flow compare to CH4 & C5H12. Decrease in flux, permeance and CO2 relative permeance is observed in gas mixture feed especially with present of heavy hydrocarbon gas C5H12. C5H12. As feed pressure increase, driving force increase preferentially sorbed of CO2 gas increase CO2 flux significantly, while CH4 and C5H12 flux only increase marginally. Furthermore, membrane layer compaction and plasticization increase CO2 permeance and relative permeance. As CO2 feed composition increase, membrane plasticize more, increasing preferentially sorbed of CO2 gas at matrix’s polar sites, thus increasing CO2 flux and permeance while, CH4 and C5H12 flux and permeance remain constant. So, CO2 relative permeance increases. In the nutshell, polyimide hollow fiber membranes show promising performance for separation of CO2-CH- C5H12 and experimental findings can be used for Multicomponent Hollow Fiber Membrane Module Performance Prediction Program (HFM3P)

Synthesis of thiourea chitosan and thiourea chitosan metal complexes and antibactarial activity

Chitosan and its derivatives are becoming increasingly important natural polymers because of their unique combination of properties like biodegradability, biocompatibility and bioactivity, in addition to attractive physical and mechanical properties. Here we wish to report the synthesis and characterization of thiourea chitosan and its metal-complex. Thiourea chitosan was prepared by the reaction of chitosan with ammonium thiocyanate in ethanol. Its metal complex was prepared by dissolving thiourea chitosan in 1% CH3COOH solution follow by adding metal salt solution.  Antimicrobial activities of the complexs were evaluated against three species of bacteria. These complexs had an effect on study bacteria, which minimum inhibition concentrate (MIC) values against bacteria were 2 times lower than those of Thiourea-chitosan; the complex had higher antibacterial activity on Staphylococcus aureus than E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa

HBF4 Catalysed Nucleophilic Substitutions of Propargylic Alcohols

The activity of HBF4 (aqueous solution) as a catalyst in propargylation reactions is presented. Diverse types of nucleophiles were employed in order to form new C–O, C–N and C–C bonds in technical acetone and in air. Good to excellent yields and good chemoselectivities were obtained using low acid loading (typically 1 mol-%) under simple reaction conditions

Plain language summary of the TOPAZ-1 study: Durvalumab and chemotherapy for advanced biliary tract cancer

WHAT IS THIS SUMMARY ABOUT?: This is a summary describing the results of a Phase III study called TOPAZ-1. The study looked at treatment with durvalumab (a type of immunotherapy) and chemotherapy to treat participants with advanced biliary tract cancer (BTC). Advanced BTC is usually diagnosed at late stages of disease, when it cannot be cured by surgery. This study included participants with advanced BTC who had not received previous treatment, or had their cancer come back at least 6 months after receiving treatment or surgery that aimed to cure their disease. Participants received treatment with durvalumab and chemotherapy or placebo and chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to find out if treatment with durvalumab and chemotherapy could increase the length of time that participants with advanced BTC lived, compared with placebo and chemotherapy. WHAT WERE THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY?: Participants who took durvalumab and chemotherapy had a 20% lower chance of experiencing death at any point in the study compared with participants who received placebo and chemotherapy. The side effects experienced by participants were similar across treatment groups, and less than 12% of participants in either treatment group had to stop treatment due to treatment-related side effects. WHAT DO THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY MEAN?: Overall, these results support durvalumab and chemotherapy as a new treatment option for people with advanced BTCs. Based on the results of this study, durvalumab is now approved for the treatment of adults with advanced BTCs in combination with chemotherapy by government organizations in Europe, the United States and several other countries

The clinical landscape of cell-free DNA alterations in 1671 patients with advanced biliary tract cancer

BACKGROUND: Targeted therapies have transformed clinical management of advanced biliary tract cancer (BTC). Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) analysis is an attractive approach for cancer genomic profiling that overcomes many limitations of traditional tissue-based analysis. We examined cfDNA as a tool to inform clinical management of patients with advanced BTC and generate novel insights into BTC tumor biology. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We analyzed next-generation sequencing data of 2068 cfDNA samples from 1671 patients with advanced BTC generated with Guardant360. We carried out clinical annotation on a multi-institutional subset (n = 225) to assess intra-patient cfDNA-tumor concordance and the association of cfDNA variant allele fraction (VAF) with clinical outcomes. RESULTS: Genetic alterations were detected in cfDNA in 84% of patients, with targetable alterations detected in 44% of patients. Fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) fusions, isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) mutations, and BRAF V600E were clonal in the majority of cases, affirming these targetable alterations as early driver events in BTC. Concordance between cfDNA and tissue for mutation detection was high for IDH1 mutations (87%) and BRAF V600E (100%), and low for FGFR2 fusions (18%). cfDNA analysis uncovered novel putative mechanisms of resistance to targeted therapies, including mutation of the cysteine residue (FGFR2 C492F) to which covalent FGFR inhibitors bind. High pre-treatment cfDNA VAF was associated with poor prognosis and shorter response to chemotherapy and targeted therapy. Finally, we report the frequency of promising targets in advanced BTC currently under investigation in other advanced solid tumors, including KRAS G12C (1.0%), KRAS G12D (5.1%), PIK3CA mutations (6.8%), and ERBB2 amplifications (4.9%). CONCLUSIONS: These findings from the largest and most comprehensive study to date of cfDNA from patients with advanced BTC highlight the utility of cfDNA analysis in current management of this disease. Characterization of oncogenic drivers and mechanisms of therapeutic resistance in this study will inform drug development efforts to reduce mortality for patients with BTC

Directed evolution of an enhanced POU reprogramming factor for cell fate engineering

Transcription factor-driven cell fate engineering in pluripotency induction, transdifferentiation, and forward reprogramming requires efficiency, speed, and maturity for widespread adoption and clinical translation. Here, we used Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc driven pluripotency reprogramming to evaluate methods for enhancing and tailoring cell fate transitions, through directed evolution with iterative screening of pooled mutant libraries and phenotypic selection. We identified an artificially evolved and enhanced POU factor (ePOU) that substantially outperforms wild-type Oct4 in terms of reprogramming speed and efficiency. In contrast to Oct4, not only can ePOU induce pluripotency with Sox2 alone, but it can also do so in the absence of Sox2 in a three-factor ePOU/Klf4/c-Myc cocktail. Biochemical assays combined with genome-wide analyses showed that ePOU possesses a new preference to dimerize on palindromic DNA elements. Yet, the moderate capacity of Oct4 to function as a pioneer factor, its preference to bind octamer DNA and its capability to dimerize with Sox2 and Sox17 proteins remain unchanged in ePOU. Compared with Oct4, ePOU is thermodynamically stabilized and persists longer in reprogramming cells. In consequence, ePOU: 1) differentially activates several genes hitherto not implicated in reprogramming, 2) reveals an unappreciated role of thyrotropin-releasing hormone signaling, and 3) binds a distinct class of retrotransposons. Collectively, these features enable ePOU to accelerate the establishment of the pluripotency network. This demonstrates that the phenotypic selection of novel factor variants from mammalian cells with desired properties is key to advancing cell fate conversions with artificially evolved biomolecules

STUDY OF PRESSURE AND COMPOSITION EFFECT ON MULTICOMPONENT MEMBRANE SEPARATION INVOLVING HEAVY HYDROCARBON GAS PENTANE

This work study the performance and characterize polyimide hollow fiber membranes for the separation of CO2-CH- C5H12 at difference pressure and feed composition as well as the effect of heavy hydrocarbon gas C5H12 on membrane performance. In Malaysia, approximately 13 trillion ft³ of high CO2 natural gas field are uneconomical to be developed. Development of high CO2 gas fields requires prudent management of carbon dioxide capture, transportation, and storage to enable commercialization of these fields. Research conducted on CO2 separation using membrane is limited especially on multicomponent and involving heavy hydrocarbon gas. Scope of experimental study focus on pure gas, gas mixture with and without heavy hydrocarbon gas C5H12 as well as varies the feed pressure from 10 bar to 18 bar and CO2 feed composition from 10% to 90%. Research methodologies include fabrication of membrane module, membrane characterization using FTIR, FESEM, and performances testing with CO2SMU and GC. FTIR finding show that membrane matrix’s polar sites enhance the preferential interaction and solubility of CO2 gas molecules, resulting in higher CO2 permeates flow compare to CH4 & C5H12. Decrease in flux, permeance and CO2 relative permeance is observed in gas mixture feed especially with present of heavy hydrocarbon gas C5H12. C5H12. As feed pressure increase, driving force increase preferentially sorbed of CO2 gas increase CO2 flux significantly, while CH4 and C5H12 flux only increase marginally. Furthermore, membrane layer compaction and plasticization increase CO2 permeance and relative permeance. As CO2 feed composition increase, membrane plasticize more, increasing preferentially sorbed of CO2 gas at matrix’s polar sites, thus increasing CO2 flux and permeance while, CH4 and C5H12 flux and permeance remain constant. So, CO2 relative permeance increases. In the nutshell, polyimide hollow fiber membranes show promising performance for separation of CO2-CH- C5H12 and experimental findings can be used for Multicomponent Hollow Fiber Membrane Module Performance Prediction Program (HFM3P)