Month: March 2021

Excessive fat accumulation in the liver can lead to serious medical problems, including liver failure. Thus, understanding the distribution of lipids within the liver is a critical step in diagnosing fatty liver diseases.

In a new study published in the journal Biomedical Optics Express, a team of researchers, led by Professor Kohei Soga of Tokyo University of Science including Assistant Professor Kyohei Okubo of Tokyo University of Science and Professor Naoko Ohtani of Osaka City University, have reported the successful use of near-infrared hyperspectral imaging to quantitatively analyze the distributions of lipids (a class of lipids commonly found in fat) in mouse liver.

Dr. Okubo says, “Lipid distribution in the liver provides crucial information for diagnosing fatty liver-associated liver diseases including cancer, and therefore, a noninvasive, label-free, quantitative modality is needed.”

In describing the inspiration for this project, Dr. Okubo collaborated with Professor Ohtani, who studies the relationship between obesity and liver disease. Given the success of other research groups in using near-infrared hyperspectral imaging to visualize plaques in rabbit blood vessels and fatty acids in pork meats, Prof. Soga’s team decided to try using it to visualize the distribution of lipids in mouse liver.

The study focused on mice that were either on a normal diet or one of three kinds of high-fat diets rich in various types of lipids. The objective of these varied diets was to generate a set of livers with diverse lipid profiles. After extracting the livers, the scientists used a reference test to generate convincing results for comparing their hyperspectral imaging results.

They used the Folch extraction method to isolate lipids from small pieces of the livers and then weighed the isolated lipid samples to calculate the total weight of lipids within the livers. The scientists next performed near-infrared hyperspectral imaging and used two candidate data analysis methods—partial least-square regression and support vector regression—to quantitatively visualize lipid distributions within the liver to identify the better analytical method.

When the scientists examined their data, they found that it enabled them to image the livers in gradient colours according to the lipid levels contained in the livers and to generate maps of the local lipid densities within the livers. The lipid levels as measured with hyperspectral imaging closely correlated with the actual lipid levels as quantified based on Folch extraction method, and this correlation was stronger in the lipid levels calculated using support vector regression than for the lipid levels calculated using partial least square regression.

In articulating the significance of his team’s research, Dr. Okubo notes, “We have developed a method to visualize the distribution of lipids in the liver using a near-infrared spectral imaging technique that incorporates machine learning.”

This is important because near-infrared spectral imaging technologies could be used for the noninvasive evaluation of the liver status, thus providing a diagnostic option for clinicians when investigating NAFLD cases.

Near-infrared spectral imaging can also be used to detect specific lipid compound types, and Dr. Okubo is quick to emphasize that “the ultimate goal of this collaborative research is to differentiate and identify fatty acids in the liver.” Achieving this future goal would represent a major advancement in research in fatty liver diseases.

The problems of stray cats and dogs and the lack of a comprehensive and easy-to-use database for their adoption are common in many major cities. In response to these issues, four sixth-year Chulalongkorn University‘s Veterinary Science students: Kamonwan Sengsen (nickname: Beam), Vanitchakan Jaiboon (nickname: Gam), Pimpakarn  Siengruengsaeng (nickname: Pim), Pimrumpa  Kao-ian (nickname: Prim) have developed the “RightBaan” web application to match homeless animals from various shelters with their potential owners.

Pimrumpa (Prim), the group representative said, “This app is part of our Senior Project requirement. The problem of stray animals has been around for a long time and should be resolved. As veterinary students, we want to find doable solutions.”

“This year, the faculty gave us students more opportunities to work on innovation, so we decided to develop a web application that collects information of homeless animals from different shelters to pass on to those who wish to adopt them.”

The “RightBaan” web application collects important information and the history of the animals, such as vaccination, sterilization, as well as their pictures and stories for people who are ready for adoption to browse through.  At the moment, the web only has information about cats and dogs but will include other animals in the future.

In the future, additional functions will be added, such as a search box, notifications, and alerts.  Users can enter the information of the animals they want, such as color, and age, and get alerts/notifications when such animals become available.

“We would like to invite interested people to use the service or browse through the web application.  Suggestions are welcome, so we can make further development to even better meet the needs of users,” Prim said.

Thammasat University’s Law School has been ranked top in the latest survey by Thailand’s Top Universities (ThaiTopU.com). For the survey, students vote for the most popular universities in Thailand for each subject area.

Thammasat University has been ranked first in the category of the Law Schools – Social Sciences among public universities in 2020. The other universities in the top 10 in the category are Chulalongkorn University, Khon Kaen University, Srinakharinwirot University, Chiang Mai University, Kasetsart University, Mae Fah Luang University, Prince of Songkla University, Mahasarakham University, and the University of Phayao.

The data used was collected between June – December 2020. The criteria for the most popular university rankings are the popularity vote, subject areas of interest, and the types of university, i.e. public, private, or Rajabhat university.

The data was collected and published twice a year.  The first survey was done during January – June and published in July.  The second survey was done from July – December and published in January.

The Republic of Angola halted the production of natural gas in 2015. Antonio Luther Lopez, a graduate of Saint Petersburg Mining University, now employed at Angola-based Sonangol, shares his insights into the reasons and consequences of this decision.

“I graduated in 2006 and was offered a job at Sonangol right away. It is a state-owned company, a monopoly that controls the country’s oil production. I started as an intern, but after a couple of months, I was promoted and transferred to a new department,” says Antonio Luther Lopez, Senior Technical Project Manager at Sonangol Gas and Renewable Energies.

“There was a strategic task ahead of us: to explore and start developing the found gas fields. Plenty of reserves had been discovered, but we lacked technology, qualified personnel, and financial capacity; therefore, they remained untapped for a long time. Finally, the corporation was ready to begin exploiting the fields. And so I found myself in a team. We were the pioneers of natural gas production in Angola. And I must admit it was my CV that helped me get on board,” Lopez explains.

“It has to do with the fact that all of our presidents – three so far – graduated from Russian universities. Studying in Russia has become a sort of tradition, sticking to which results in reaching great objectives. “

“My uncle was a secretary at the Embassy of Angola in Moscow. I was a schoolboy when I left with him. I completed the ninth, tenth and eleventh grades there, acquired new knowledge, and after graduation, entered Mining University. I once visited a mine in my home country, and ever since, all I wanted is to become a mining engineer. It’s a profession that guarantees a promising career and a high income,” adds Lopez.

The fresh graduate was initially involved in designing and building the infrastructure needed for offshore production. His next role was to choose suitable pipelines, drilling fluids – in short, help the senior engineer with technical matters.

“At the start of the project, when the production process had not yet been set up, I had to use knowledge and skills from very different areas of oil & gas engineering. It was quite a demanding environment – 28 days offshore, two weeks off, at home, and then back to work again. Nonetheless, we had an important business to do; we knew it, and because of it, we did not feel tired,” explains Mining University’s graduate.

“Unfortunately, this attempt to get production going ended up in failure. Due to formations lying at great depths, producing natural gas turned out to be too expensive. Thanks to the market oversupply, gas prices kept falling year on year. In the end, it made production unprofitable, and the company decided to postpone all activities in this field.” 

This did not affect the Angolan government’s plans to open a supported by foreign capital LNG facility.

In 2013, Chevron launched the then-largest energy project in Africa known as Angola LNG. The LNG facility’s capacity was 5.2 million tonnes of product per year. The shareholders – Chevron Corporation (36.4%), Sonangol (22.8%), BP (13.6%), Eni (13.6%), and Total (13.6%) – planned to supply associated gas from their offshore oil fields. Sonangol built seven LNG tankers with a capacity of 160,000 cubic metres each to serve the venture. The first shipments occurred in June that year.

Ecologists warmly welcomed the idea. Liquefaction is a highly energy-intensive process. A substantial proportion of the gas should be burnt off to generate energy to cool the remaining gas. Nevertheless, LNG production is far more environmentally friendly than flaring.

“Implementing that project also allowed to use the by-product of oil production for commercial purposes – that is, produce LNG and export it to other countries. Similar projects are being developed across Africa – in Nigeria, Mozambique, Algeria, Cameroon… But there are still several factors hampering the development of the market. For example, funding shortage and internal political instability,” notes Lopez.

For Angola, the main constraints were the initial high cost of the project ($10 billion) and the lack of long-term contracts. Angola LNG was built primarily for exporting gas to the US. The subsequent shale gas boom shut that door on the possibility of making deals with US customers. Australian and Papua New Guinean plants dominate the Asian market.

In Latin America, Trinidad and Tobago, Peru, and once again, the US prevail. It actually leaves no other opportunity for the project operator than sell gas on the European spot market to satiate regional demand in winter.

Partly, APG goes to meet the domestic needs of the country.

As works in exploration and production of natural gas had been put to a halt, the graduate decided not to leave gas engineering. He is now responsible for running and maintaining 14 of Sonangol’s plants that produce gas cylinders for domestic and industrial use.

“Although the topic of alternative energy comes up here all the time, just like everywhere else, the market share of green energy sources in Africa is for now negligible. Hydrocarbons will remain a major energy carrier for decades to come, which explains why so many want to earn a job in the mineral resources sector,” adds Lopez.

“A mining engineer in Angola makes 5-6 times more than people here on average. The diploma makes a difference, too.”

“Local universities don’t provide high-quality education; hence, a degree certificate obtained at a Russian, European or American institute leads to a significant increase in pay. Foreign staff earn even more: their rate is up to four times higher than that of locals in comparable positions. Luckily for us, there aren’t many ex-pats here. They are usually offered only executive positions,” sums up Sonangol’s employee.

The students distributed clean water, groceries and sanitation kits. The donations were distributed after conducting a needs survey in the flood-affected area. The difficult access to the region did not dampen the enthusiasm of the student team who distributed aid to all the flood locations evenly.

Communications Care is a program initiated by the President University Major Association, Communications.