Bio-oil/char mixtures and whole bio-oil from rapid pyrolysis of woody biomass are potential feeds for synthesis gas production via steam gasification. A 7.8 cm diameter, atmospheric pressure, fluid bed gasifier was constructed and operated with either a nickel-containing steam reforming catalyst or silica sand as bed material. Both bio-oil and a slurry of 80 wt % bio-oil and 20 wt % char were tested as feedstocks. Effects of bed temperature, steam to carbon molar ratio, and space velocity on gaseous component yields and carbon conversion are reported for both feedstocks using catalytic and noncatalytic bed material. At the moderate temperatures (<840 °C) of the experiments, carbon conversion is incomplete, and some mixed hydrocarbons are present in the produced gases. Yields of the main gas constituents are compared with an equilibrium model which was modified to correct for these two factors. Observations are made on stability and attrition issues with the catalyst.

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The authors report a case of subarachnoid hemorrhage and spinal root injury caused by an acupunc ture needle buried in the posterior neck about 30 years before onset. A 33-year-old female presented with sudden onset of severe occipital headaches. Plain x-ray films of the cervical spine revealed a fine gold needle, about 1.5 cm in length, between the C1 and C2 vertebrae. The needle was piercing the spinal nerve root through the dural vein, and was removed. Postoperatively, the pain exacerbated by neck movement disappeared.

For the purpose of developing chemosensitizers to reverse chloroquine (CQ) resistance in Plasmodium chabaudi in vivo, dibenzosuberanylpiperazine (1-(10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[a,d]cyclohepten-5-yl)piperazine) (DSP) and its piperazin-1-yl derivatives were synthesized systematically. DSP hydrochloride (3) was obtained from the reaction of dibenzosuberanyl chloride with piperazine in the presence of 1,8-diazabicyclo[5,4,0]-7-undecene (DBU). To understand the relationship between the substituent patterns of DSP derivatives and their biological activities, 13 hydroxyalkyl or hydroxyalkenyl derivatives were synthesized by an attack of the piperazine secondary amine of 3 on commercially available epoxides in the presence of triethylamine or DBU, and three alkyl or alkynyl derivatives were synthesized by the reactions of 3 with the corresponding organic chlorides in the presence of DBU. In both reactions, the yield was a maximum of 90%. The biological activities of the synthesized compounds were evaluated on the basis of two values: antimalarial activity and reversal activity. The values of antimalarial activities by single administration of 17 test compounds were not effective, being in the range 67-152% on day 4 after infection of Plasmodium chabaudi to mice except for the administration of 3-(dibenzosuberanylpiperazin-1-yl)-1-butene (29, 22%). On the other hand, administration of the seven test compounds (50 mg/kg dose) combined with CQ (3-4 mg/kg) gave high reversal activities, namely, low values (0% on day 4). The effective test compounds were those obtained by introducing the following substituents: 2-hydroxybutyl (24), 2-hydroxyhexen-5-yl (27), 2-hydroxybuten-3-yl (28a), 2-substituted 1-hydroxybuten-3-yl (28b), 4-acetoxybutyn-2-yl (30), 4-hydroxybutyn-2-yl (31), and 3-substituted buten-1-yl (29), which correspond to the nonbulky groups of hydroxyalkyl (C4), hydroxyalkenyl (C4-C6), hydroxyalkynyl (C4), or alkenyl (C4). These results may lead to the development of an approach to developing clinically applicable chemosensitizers for drug-resistant malaria.