Study on characteristics of acacia wood by FTIR and thermogrametric analysis

Renewable energy is very important for future development of society. Biomass is a type of energy that can be renewable. In this study, characterization of acacia wood is focused and discussed. The functional groups, crosslinking in the biomass structures and thermal decomposition were mentioned. In that, functional groups, crosslinking of acacia wood are analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermal decomposition is investigated with thermogravimetric equipment. Acacia wood has typical group of wood from FT-IR such as O-H, C-H, C-O, C-O-C of cellulose and lignin. The structure of cellulose is also very easy to be broken by thermal factor. In the inert atmosphere, cellulose decomposed dramatically in the temperature range of 280 to 550 °C and degradation of lignin occurred in the temperature range of 100 to 800 °C. Acacia wood decomposed in the temperature range of 200 to 580 °C with three distinct weight loss stages. The first stage is water removal of biomass and it completes below 120 oC. The second stage is in the range of 200-350 oC that is the initial decomposition of biomass and directly related to the formation of volatile substances from decomposition of hemicellulose and cellulose. The last stage is the continuous decomposition of lignin at higher temperature up to 580 oC. For cellulose, the thermal degradation in air atmosphere has decomposition temperature higher than that in the nitrogen atmosphere but the ending temperature is lower. On the other hand, the thermal decomposition of lignin just occurred from 150 to 560 oC. The reaction for acacia wood demonstrated three stages. The water evaporated at lower than 120 oC in the first stage. The second stage is the devolatilization of biomass (214-322 oC) and the third one (322-420 oC) is the combustion of char. Keywords. Biomass, acacia wood, cellulose and lignin, FT-IR, characterization of biomass

The effect of combustion temperature to low-tar gas production using oxygen-enriched air

Tar content in producer gas from biomass gasification is a serious problem for fuel gas utilization in downstream applications. This work presents the experimental studies of acacia woodchip gasification in a downdraft gasifier with two stages air supply. The effects of oxygen concentration in gasified agent on the temperature of gasifier, the syngas composition, the lower heating value and tar content in the producer gas are investigated. Results indicate that oxygen-enriched air rate not only favors to reduce tar component but also improves the heating value of the producer gas. When increasing oxygen concentration from 21 vol.% to 42 vol.% in the gasified agent, the tar content of the producer gas decreases from 67.4 mg/Nm3 to 30 mg/Nm3, hydrogen concentration increases from 7.28 to 13.15 vol.%, CO concentration increases from 19.65 vol.% to 26.52 vol.%, CH4 concentration increases from 1.4 to 3.3 vol.% and the low heating value increases from 4.45 MJ/m3 to 7.30 MJ/m3, respectively. On the other hand, the carbon conversion efficiency, gasification efficiency and gas yield of the gasifier are also presented in this approach. Keywords. Downdraft gasification, acacia woodchip, tar content, oxygen-enriched air

Evaluation of the expression levels of BRAFV600E mRNA in primary tumors of thyroid cancer using an ultrasensitive mutation assay

Background The BRAF(V600E) gene encodes for the mutant BRAF(V600E) protein, which triggers downstream oncogenic signaling in thyroid cancer. Since most currently available methods have focused on detecting BRAF(V600E) mutations in tumor DNA, there is limited information about the level of BRAF(V600E) mRNA in primary tumors of thyroid cancer, and the diagnostic relevance of these RNA mutations is not known. Methods Sixty-two patients with thyroid cancer and non-malignant thyroid disease were included in the study. Armed with an ultrasensitive technique for mRNA-based mutation analysis based on a two step RT-qPCR method, we analysed the expression levels of the mutated BRAF(V600E) mRNA in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples of thyroid tissues. Sanger sequencing for detection of BRAF(V600E) DNA was performed in parallel for comparison and normalization of BRAF(V600E) mRNA expression levels. Results The mRNA-based mutation detection assay enables detection of the BRAF(V600E) mRNA transcripts in a 10,000-fold excess of wildtype BRAF counterparts. While BRAF(V600E) mutations could be detected by Sanger sequencing in 13 out of 32 malignant thyroid cancer FFPE tissue samples, the mRNA-based assay detected mutations in additionally 5 cases, improving the detection rate from 40.6 to 56.3%. Furthermore, we observed a surprisingly large, 3-log variability, in the expression level of the BRAF(V600E) mRNA in FFPE samples of thyroid cancer tissue. Conclusions The expression levels of BRAF(V600E) mRNA was characterized in the primary tumors of thyroid cancer using an ultrasensitive mRNA-based mutation assay. Our data inspires further studies on the prognostic and diagnostic relevance of the BRAF(V600E) mRNA levels as a molecular biomarker for the diagnosis and monitoring of various genetic and malignant diseases.Peer reviewe

Relationship between serum TNF-α, IL-6, and IL- 10 levels and disease severity, and changes in the cytokines after treatment in patients with bacterial community-acquired pneumonia

Introduction The role of some cytokines, such as interleukin (IL) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), in serum in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) has been mentioned. There are few results on changes in serum cytokines in patients with bacterial CAP. This study aimed at the relationship between serum TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10 levels, disease severity, and changes in serum cytokines in patients with bacterial CAP. Methods A descriptive follow-up study was conducted on 78 hospitalized patients with CAP. Serum IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-α levels were measured by fluorescence covalent microbead immunosorbent assay technique. Changes in serum cytokine levels were measured on admission’s first and seventh day. Results TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10 medians were 0.76, 2.15, and 1.18 pg/ mL, respectively. There was no difference in interleukin levels between the two groups, namely those aged 0.05). The levels of IL-10 in patients with Gram-positive bacteria pneumonia were significantly higher than those with Gram-negative bacteria (2.23 pg/mL vs 1.15 pg/mL, respectively, p=0.03). Logistic regression analysis revealed that IL-10 (OR=0.92; 95% CI: 0.86–0.99, p=0.03) was associated with the prognosis of disease severity. IL-6 levels decreased statistically on day 7 after treatment (1.12 pg/mL vs 2.15 pg/mL, p=0.003). The change in TNF-α and IL-10 after treatment was not significant (p>0.05). Conclusions Serum IL-10 levels during hospitalization time are related to the prognosis of disease severity. After 7 days of treatment, IL-6 levels decreased statistically; however, TNF-α and IL-10 levels did not change

Actionable Mutation Profiles of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer patients from Vietnamese population

Comprehensive profiling of actionable mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is vital to guide targeted therapy, thereby improving the survival rate of patients. Despite the high incidence and mortality rate of NSCLC in Vietnam, the actionable mutation profiles of Vietnamese patients have not been thoroughly examined. Here, we employed massively parallel sequencing to identify alterations in major driver genes (EGFR, KRAS, NRAS, BRAF, ALK and ROS1) in 350 Vietnamese NSCLC patients. We showed that the Vietnamese NSCLC patients exhibited mutations most frequently in EGFR (35.4%) and KRAS (22.6%), followed by ALK (6.6%), ROS1 (3.1%), BRAF (2.3%) and NRAS (0.6%). Interestingly, the cohort of Vietnamese patients with advanced adenocarcinoma had higher prevalence of EGFR mutations than the Caucasian MSK-IMPACT cohort. Compared to the East Asian cohort, it had lower EGFR but higher KRAS mutation prevalence. We found that KRAS mutations were more commonly detected in male patients while EGFR mutations was more frequently found in female. Moreover, younger patients