Improving the quality of produced water discharged in open waters by incorporating a microbiological treatment on operating offshore platforms: Melhorar a qualidade da água produzida descartada em águas abertas, incorporando um tratamento microbiológico nas plataformas offshore operacionais

Produced water is the water that comes along with oil during the reservoir extraction and is the main subproduct of the petroleum industry, accounting for 3 to 5 times the global production of oil. The produced water separated from the oil still contains some oily fractions in its composition, making it necessary for some treatment before its discard (most common practice adopted on offshore platforms) or reuse. The traditional method of treatment is based on the physical separation of oil and water, driven by their density difference. This type of treatment is unable to remove dissolved or small diameter particles dispersed, which turned out to be an issue in face of some new legislation worldwide that lowered the maximum amount of total oil and grease (TOG) the water can have for its discharge. Biological treatment is a widespread method for treating wastewater in several different industries due to its relative simplicity and low operational costs. Nevertheless, as it is a treatment that normally requires large-volume vessels, it is not used on offshore platforms due to a lack of space for such high dimension equipment. The objective of this research was to carry out a literature review using the article and patent search bases to find technical options that allow the use of biological treatment for water produced on offshore oil production platforms. Next, propose a model to incorporate biological treatment and estimate the performance of this produced water treatment model. An arrangement was proposed to convert a cargo tank of an operating offshore oil platform into a microbiological reactor. The conversion could be useful to treat the produced water that has a concentration of oil above the maximum limit allowed to discharge or to promote the additional extraction of a fraction of oil that could not be removed by the conventional treatment plants. The objective of this research was to perform a literature review to find technical options that could allow the use of biological treatment for the produced water in offshore oil-producing platforms, to propose a model to incorporate the biological treatment, and to estimate the performance of this model treating produced water. After researching articles and patents in the literature, it was seen that the Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) was the best type of reactor to be incorporated into an offshore platform. The reactor was chosen since it had good performance in treating produced water anaerobically and low sludge production. The UASB reactor most resembled the arrangement of a cargo tank, which was a paramount factor for the feasibility of the process's success. It is expected that the cargo tank converted to an UASB could remove at least an extra 30% of the total oil and grease (TOG) when compared to the traditional physical removal process existent for the produced water. However, it is still necessary to perform some laboratory tests to better predict the removal rate that would be observed in using this microbiological treatment with the high salinity-produced water from pre-salt Brazilian fields

IGHV gene rearrangements and mutational status in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and mantle cell lymphoma patients

El estatus mutacional del gen IGHV (immunoglobulin heavy chain vaiable region) es considerado un importante factor pronóstico en leucemia linfocítica crónica (LLC), en tanto que en linfoma de células del manto (LCM) su utilidad desde el punto de vista clínico requiere una evaluación más extensa. El análisis de la literatura muestra un repertorio sesgado en ambas patologías, con mayor participación de las familias VH3, VH4 y VH1, así como una expresión diferencial de genes IGHV. En este estudio se efectuó el análisis comparativo del estatus mutacional, los rearreglos de IGHV y la presencia de receptores estereotipados de una cohorte argentina de 174 pacientes con LLC y de 31 casos con LCM de Brasil. En LLC se observó mayor diversidad de genes, siendo los más frecuentes IGHV1-69, IGHV3-23, IGHV4-34, IGHV3-21 e IGHV3-48 (34,1% del total), en tanto que en LCM se encontró un repertorio muy reducido que incluye: IGHV3-21, IGHV4-34, IGHV3-23 e IGHV4-39 (66,7% del total), y una menor carga mutacional respecto de LLC. En LCM sólo 3,2% de los casos presentaron receptores estereotipados, mientras que en LLC el 14,2% de los rearreglos fueron estereotipados, siendo los clusters más representados #2, #7 y #9. Nuestros datos y los previamente reportados en la literatura sustentan la presencia de estímulos antigénicos en el desarrollo y la patogénesis de ambas entidades, con características específicas en cada una de ellas. En LLC, la incorporación del análisis de los receptores estereotipados podría refinar el pronóstico del estatus mutacional de IGHV.The mutational status of IGHV (immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region) gene is considered an important prognostic factor in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), nevertheless its clinical usefulness in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) requires a more extensive evaluation. In both pathologies, the analysis of the literature showed bias repertoire, with higher representation of VH3, VH4 and VH1 families, as well as a differential usage of IGHV genes. In this study, we have performed the analysis of IGHV mutational status and gene rearrangements as well as the evaluation of the presence of stereotyped receptors, in an Argentinean cohort of 174 CLL patients and 31 cases of Brazilian patients with MCL. In CLL, a greater diversity of genes was observed, being the most frequent: IGHV1-69, IGHV3-23, IGHV4-34, IGHV3-21 and IGHV3-48 (34.1% of the total), while in MCL a very small repertoire including: IGHV3-21, IGHV4-34, IGHV3- 23 and IGHV4-39 (66.7% of total), was found. In addition, MCL had a lower mutational load compared to CLL. In MCL only 3.2% of the cases presented stereotyped receptors, whereas in CLL this value reached 14.2%, being the most represented clusters #2, #7 and #9. Our data and previous reports in the literature support the presence of antigenic stimuli in the development and pathogenesis of both entities with specific characteristics in each of them. In CLL, the analysis of stereotypic receptors could refine the clinical outcome on beyond immunoglobulin mutational status.Fil: Stanganelli, Carmen Graciela. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Investigaciones Hematológicas ; ArgentinaFil: Dos Santos, Patricia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Medicina Experimental. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Panero, Julieta. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Medicina Experimental. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Santana, B. A.. Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto; BrasilFil: Calado, Rodrigo. Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto; BrasilFil: Slavutsky, Irma Rosa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Medicina Experimental. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Medicina Experimental; Argentin

Functional characterization of telomerase RNA variants found in patients with hematologic disorders

Human telomerase uses a specific cellular RNA, called hTERC, as the template to synthesize telomere repeats at chromosome ends. Approximately 10% to 15% of patients with aplastic anemia or other bone marrow failure syndromes are carriers of hTERC sequence variants whose functional significance, in most cases, is unknown. We screened 10 reported and 2 newly discovered hTERC variants from such patients and found that 10 of these negatively affected telomerase enzymatic function when they were used to reconstitute telomerase enzymatic function in human cells. Most functional deficits were due to perturbations of hTERC secondary structure and correlated well with the degrees of telomere shortening and reduced telomerase activity observed in peripheral blood lymphocytes of the representative patients. We also found no evidence of dominant-negative activity in any of the mutants. Therefore, loss of telomerase activity and of telomere maintenance resulting from inherited hTERC mutations may limit marrow stem cell renewal and predispose some patients to bone marrow failure. (Blood. 2005;105: 2332-2339

Is the telomere length associated with neurocognitive disabilities in HIV-1-infected subjects?

Objective: We evaluated the association between cognitive deficits and leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in HIV-1-infected individuals. Design: 73 HIV-1-infected patients undergoing neuropsychological evaluation and 91 healthy controls were included in this study. Fifteen HIV-1 positive patients did not have cognitive disorders whereas 26 had asymptomatic neurocognitive disorder (ANI), 13 presented mild to moderate neurocognitive disorder (MND), and 10 had HIV-associated dementia (HAD). Methods: DNA from the peripheral blood of HIV-1-infected patients was used for measurement of telomere length by real-time PCR. HIV-1 viral load was determined in blood. Results: LTL decreased with age in healthy controls (p=0.0001). Regardless of the HIV status, age-matched LTL from HIV patients, including those with ANI and MND, were shortened in comparison to the healthy control group (p=0.0073); however, no association was found among the HIV-1-infected individuals with cognitive deficits (p=0.01). In addition, no gender-related association with LTL was observed (p=0.80), smoking, physical exercise, and plasma viral load were not correlated to telomere length (p=0.66). Conclusions: We concluded that leukocyte telomere length may not be a marker of cellular senescence in individuals with HIV infection and neurocognitive disorders

BCL2A1a Over-Expression in Murine Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells Decreases Apoptosis and Results in Hematopoietic Transformation

We previously reported the development of a lethal myeloid sarcoma in a non-human primate model utilizing retroviral vectors to genetically modify hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. This leukemia was characterized by insertion of the vector provirus into the BCL2A1 gene, with resultant BCL2A1 over-expression. There is little information on the role of this anti-apoptotic member of the BCL2 family in hematopoiesis or leukemia induction. Therefore we studied the impact of Bcl2a1a lentiviral over-expression on murine hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. We demonstrated the anti-apoptotic function of this protein in hematopoietic cells, but did not detect any impact of Bcl2a1a on in vitro cell growth or cell cycle kinetics. In vivo, we showed a higher propensity of HSCs over-expressing Bcl2a1a to engraft and contribute to hematopoiesis. Mice over-expressing Bcl2a1a in the hematologic compartment eventually developed an aggressive malignant disease characterized as a leukemia/lymphoma of B-cell origin. Secondary transplants carried out to investigate the primitive origin of the disease revealed the leukemia was transplantable. Thus, Bcl2a1 should be considered as a protooncogene with a potential role in both lymphoid and myeloid leukemogenesis, and a concerning site for insertional activation by integrating retroviral vectors utilized in hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy.intramural research programs of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (CED) of the National Institutes of Healthintramural research programs of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (CED) of the National Institutes of Healt

Human telomere disease due to disruption of the CCAAT box of the TERC promoter

Mutations in the coding region of telomerase complex genes can result in accelerated telomere attrition and human disease. Manifestations of telomere disease include the bone marrow failure syndromes dyskeratosis congenita and aplastic anemia, acute myeloid leukemia, liver cirrhosis, and pulmonary fibrosis. Here, we describe a mutation in the CCAAT box (GCAAT) of the TERC gene promoter in a family in which multiple members had typical features of telomeropathy. The genetic alteration in this critical regulatory sequence resulted in reduced reporter gene activity and absent binding of transcription factor NF-Y, likely responsible for reduced TERC levels, decreased telomerase activity, and short telomeres. This is the first description of a pathogenic mutation in the highly conserved CCAAT box and the first instance of a mutation in the promoter region of TERC producing a telomeropathy. We propose that current mutation-screening strategies should include gene promoter regions for the diagnosis of telomere diseases. This clinical trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00071045. (Blood. 2012;119(13):3060-3063

Latin American Collaborative Research on Aplastic Anemia (LARAA): creating a regional registry

Aplastic anemia (AA) is a rare but serious disease that affects hematopoietic stem cells and is characterized by pancytopenia and a hypocellular bone marrow. It can be a hereditary or acquired condition. Acquired AA has an incidence of 2 per million per year in Europe, but the incidence is two to three times higher in Asia. In Latin America, there is little epidemiologic data on this disease. The most important treatments for AA are bone marrow transplantation and immunosuppressive treatment with antithymocyte globulin and cyclosporine. But access to these treatments is restricted in some areas of Latin America. At the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in 2016, representatives of the Hematology Societies of Latin America, with the support of the ASH International Program, met to discuss possible collaborative efforts. Everyone agreed that lack of reliable information is one of the main barriers to designing significant clinical trials for the region; therefore, starting a registry of hematologic diseases for the region has become a main goal of the group. In April 2017, at the ASH Highlights meeting in Latin America, AA was selected as the first disease that would be used to begin the collaborative action. National hematology societies of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela have made a commitment to help develop the Latin American Registry for Aplastic Anemia (LARAA)