Search

Pervaporation is a vapor pressure-driven membrane desalination process that can desalinate water with greater total dissolved solids than conventional reverse osmosis. This review analyzes the performance (flux and permeance) of membrane materials used for pervaporation desalination. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), silica/silicate, graphene oxide (GO), and zeolite were the most frequently used materials to synthesize pervaporation desalination membranes. PVA is the most common material and it yields a relatively high permeance. Surface free energies of different materials were evaluated as well, to analyze the scaling/fouling propensity of the current common pervaporation desalination membranes. PVA is found to be more likely to experience scaling by gypsum while adding organic silica/silicate or GO has the potential to mitigate this issue. When comparing PVA and polyvinylidene fluoride, the hydrophobic polymer is more likely to experience scaling/fouling than hydrophilic polymers. These results indicate that future development in membranes for high-efficiency pervaporation desalination may benefit from emphasizing materials with higher hydrophilicity. • Pervaporation is a promising process for the desalination of high salinity waters. • Composite membranes can achieve high water permeance in pervaporation desalination. • PVA is the main polymer used to make high flux pervaporation membranes. • Integration of organic silica or graphene oxide to PVA can help mitigate scaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Purpose: We present results obtained by computer modeling of the thalamic network and differential gene expression analysis in a rat strain with absence epilepsy, the genetic absence epilepsy rat from Strasbourg (GAERS). Methods: (a) Computer modeling used equations from the Hodgking–Huxley model with a circuit of 13 reticular thalamic (nRt) and 39 thalamocortical (TC) neurons; (b) gene-expression analysis using differential mRNA display (DD), in situ hybridization, Northern blotting, and competitive reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results: (a) Computer modeling showed an increased network synchrony in the thalamic circuit as the value of conductance of low-voltage activated calcium channel (LVACC) is increased. (b) Using differential mRNA display, a 40% upregulation of the H-ferritin mRNA in the hippocampus was demonstrated. Looking for some candidate genes of the VACC family, no difference was found in the α1G mRNA expression between GAERS and control animals, whereas a decreased expression of the α1E subunit was observed in the cerebellum and the brainstem of the GAERS. This phenomenon was not observed in young animals when the epileptic phenotype is not expressed. Conclusions: The use of computer modeling appeared to be an efficient way to evaluate the impacts of electrophysiologic findings in vivo from single cells on an entire circuit. No clear single gene defect was revealed so far in GAERS. More information could arise from linkage analysis. However, some brain structures like hippocampus or cerebellum classically not known to be involved in the production of absence spike-and-wave discharges could in fact participate in the development of this phenotype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pervaporation desalination has several advantages over competing desalination technologies, most notably an ability to select for or against volatile organic compounds and the ability to process high salinity feeds at a low transmembrane pressure. Pervaporation has not been commercialized for desalination applications because of its energy intensity. However, emerging processes such as hydraulic fracturing produce high total dissolved solids (>30–45 g L−1) byproduct streams that exceed the operational limits of traditional reverse osmosis and could be treated by pervaporation. Here, we demonstrate free-standing pervaporation membranes with excellent permeance and high salt removal based on a partially sulfonated pentablock terpolymer with the tradename Nexar™. Pervaporation membranes were easily cast from this material with desalination performances comparable or superior to commercially available membranes. We found that the polymer degree of sulfonation and casting solvent polarity had a significant impact on the membranes' water uptake but only a modest impact on the pervaporation desalination performance. Membranes with a degree of sulfonation of 52% (2.0 meq g−1 IEC) and a casting solution composed of 50 wt% n -propanol and 50 wt% toluene achieved a water flux of 3.32 kg m−2 h−1 (permeance 135 kg m−2 h−1 bar−1) with 99.5% salt removal in pervaporation from a 32 g L−1 sodium chloride feed solution at room temperature. We demonstrated that dense, non-porous Nexar™ pervaporation membrane permeance and salt separation performance were superior to commercial pervaporation membranes and equivalent to commercial membrane distillation membranes, which have much larger pores. This study demonstrates that commercially available sulfonated pentablock terpolymers are excellent membranes for pervaporation desalination because of their ease of casting and excellent performance. • Self-assembled polymeric membranes used as membranes for pervaporation desalination. • Performance of novel membranes was superior to commercial pervaporation membranes. • Performance of novel membranes matched commercial membrane distillation membranes. • Novel membranes show salt removal comparable to commercial membranes. • Self-assembled pentablock terpolymer membranes are promising for pervaporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Genome-edited donor-derived allogeneic anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells offer a novel form of CAR-T-cell product that is available for immediate clinical use, thereby broadening access and applicability. UCART19 is one such product investigated in children and adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Two multicentre phase 1 studies aimed to investigate the feasibility, safety, and antileukaemic activity of UCART19 in children and adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.Methods: We enrolled paediatric or adult patients in two ongoing, multicentre, phase 1 clinical trials to evaluate the safety and antileukaemic activity of UCART19. All patients underwent lymphodepletion with fludarabine and cyclophosphamide with or without alemtuzumab, then children received UCART19 at 1·1-2·3 × 106 cells per kg and adults received UCART19 doses of 6 × 106 cells, 6-8 × 107 cells, or 1·8-2·4 × 108 cells in a dose-escalation study. The primary outcome measure was adverse events in the period between first infusion and data cutoff. These studies were registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02808442 and NCT02746952.Findings: Between June 3, 2016, and Oct 23, 2018, seven children and 14 adults were enrolled in the two studies and received UCART19. Cytokine release syndrome was the most common adverse event and was observed in 19 patients (91%); three (14%) had grade 3-4 cytokine release syndrome. Other adverse events were grade 1 or 2 neurotoxicity in eight patients (38%), grade 1 acute skin graft-versus-host disease in two patients (10%), and grade 4 prolonged cytopenia in six patients (32%). Two treatment-related deaths occurred; one caused by neutropenic sepsis in a patient with concurrent cytokine release syndrome and one from pulmonary haemorrhage in a patient with persistent cytopenia. 14 (67%) of 21 patients had a complete response or complete response with incomplete haematological recovery 28 days after infusion. Patients not receiving alemtuzumab (n=4) showed no UCART19 expansion or antileukaemic activity. The median duration of response was 4·1 months with ten (71%) of 14 responders proceeding to a subsequent allogeneic stem-cell transplant. Progression-free survival at 6 months was 27%, and overall survival was 55%.Interpretation: These two studies show, for the first time, the feasibility of using allogeneic, genome-edited CAR T cells to treat patients with aggressive leukaemia. UCART19 exhibited in-vivo expansion and antileukaemic activity with a manageable safety profile in heavily pretreated paediatric and adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. The results this study are an encouraging step forward for the field of allogeneic CAR T cells, and UCART19 offers the opportunity to treat patients with rapidly progressive disease and where autologous CAR-T-cell therapy is unavailable.Funding: Servier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effects of dance movement therapy (DMT) on empathy for adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). DMT based on the embodiment approach offers body-centered interventions, such as mirroring techniques, to address the needs of ASD patients. Accordingly, findings of a feasibility study suggest that DMT may be an effective approach for clients on the ASD spectrum. The present study is a randomized controlled trial that was conducted as a multicenter study within the framework of the EU-funded research project TESIS (Toward an Embodied Science of Intersubjectivity), and employed a two-factorial between-subject design. The treatment group (n = 35) participated in a 10-week manualized DMT intervention, whereas the control group (n = 22) received treatment only after a waiting period. Empathy, measured with the Cognitive and Emotional Empathy Questionnaire (CEEQ), was the main variable of interest, analyzed by a repeated measures analysis of variance. In order to also include incomplete data cases, we used the expectation-maximization algorithm for missing data estimation. Results suggest no significant changes in overall empathy between groups. We discuss the results and limitations, as well as future research options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]