FOREVERGONE IS PROVEN TO REMOVE AND COMPLETELY DESTROY PFAS IN INDUSTRIAL AND MUNICIPAL APPLICATIONS.

^{Gradiant's ForeverGone all-in-one solution and testing data for industrial wastewater (Photo: Business Wire)}



Gradiant announces unique in-house testing capabilities demonstrating PFAS removal to levels below US EPA and European regulatory limits.


BOSTON, Oct 9 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Gradiant, a global solutions provider for advanced water and wastewater treatment, announced today a major milestone in the fight against PFAS contamination, a forever chemical. Working with contaminated industrial, municipal, and landfill waters, ForeverGone^TM has been quantifiably proven, through multiple third-party accredited laboratories, to reduce PFAS to levels below regulatory limits and destroy the resulting PFAS concentrate completely.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241008540101/en/

 

This milestone in development confirms ForeverGone, introduced earlier this year, as the only all-in-one solution capable of removing and destroying PFAS on-site, eliminating the need for waste handling, landfilling, or incineration, differentiating it from conventional technologies, including granular activated carbon (GAC) and ion exchange.

The containerized ForeverGone solution is deployed quickly and commissioned on-site to effectively reduce PFAS to levels below the U.S. EPA's new maximum contaminant level of 4.0 ppt, and the strict limits set by European and Australian regulations.

“Key decision makers appreciate ForeverGone's differentiated proposition to remove and destroy PFAS from all types of contaminated waters,” said Sankar Natarajan, Global Head of Sales at Gradiant. "We're experiencing an unprecedented sales velocity from first engagement to full-scale project deployment across multiple industrial sectors, including semiconductors, food & beverage, mining, and major municipal utilities, all striving to meet regulatory requirements and safeguard their communities."

"To support the development of ForeverGone, we have made a significant investment in the Gradiant Labs' capability to detect PFAS down to just one part per trillion, which uniquely enables us to rapidly offer customer partners the proof they seek of the effectiveness of our technology on their contaminated water," said Steven Lam, Head of Technology at Gradiant.

Gradiant is actively deploying the ForeverGone solution at customer partner sites worldwide, offering them the significant advantage of all-in-one PFAS removal and destruction. Forever.

Are you interested in ForeverGone for your site? Gradiant has introduced a free testing program to demonstrate ForeverGone's ability to treat a wide range of contaminated waters. Interested parties should contact Gradiant at http://www.gradiant.com/contact.

About Gradiant

Gradiant is a Different Kind of Water Company. With a full suite of differentiated and proprietary end-to-end solutions for advanced water and wastewater treatment powered by the top minds in water, the company serves its clients' mission-critical operations in the world's essential industries, including semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, food & beverage, lithium and critical minerals, and renewable energy. Gradiant's innovative solutions reduce water used and wastewater discharged, reclaim valuable resources, and renew wastewater into freshwater. The Boston-headquartered company was founded at MIT and has over 1,000 employees worldwide. Learn more at gradiant.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: 
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241008540101/en/

Contact

Corporate
Felix Wang
Gradiant, Global Head of Brand and PR
fwang@gradiant.com

Source : Gradiant

DUCK CREEK PAYMENTS FACILITATOR PROVIDES SEAMLESS END-TO-END INSURANCE PAYMENT SOLUTION

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 (Bernama) -- Duck Creek Technologies, the intelligent solutions provider defining the future of property and casualty (P&C) and general insurance, introduced its latest insurance-focused payments solution, the Duck Creek Payments Facilitator.

According to Duck Creek Technologies in a statement, this modern, end-to-end payment solution caters to the nuances of payments within insurance by providing carriers with access to digital payment methods for both collecting and disbursing funds.

Its Chief Executive Officer, Michael Jackowski said the Duck Creek Payments Facilitator is designed specifically to address the unique operational demands of insurance carriers.

“By embedding this capability into our broader platform, we are offering carriers a holistic approach that supports flexibility, boosts efficiency, and helps our clients deliver a frictionless experience for policyholders, agents, and vendors,” he said.

Meanwhile, its Chief Product and Technology Officer, Jess Keeney said: “In today’s fast-evolving insurance landscape, carriers require more than just transactional solutions. They need a secure, agile, and future-proof approach to global payment processing.

“The Duck Creek Payments Facilitator delivers exactly that, enabling insurers to effortlessly manage instant claims payouts to real-time premium payments, all from a single, proven solution.”

Duck Creek Payments Facilitator delivers a global solution, combining real-time capabilities, like FedNow, with traditional payments services and Banking as a Service (BaaS) functionalities, such as transactions via push-to-card or digital wallets.

Now insurers can collect or pay out to policyholders using any payment technologies in their market of choice.

Duck Creek Payments includes Duck Creek Payments Facilitator and Duck Creek Payments Orchestrator, introduced earlier this year.

-- BERNAMA

CURIUM JOIN FORCES WITH PEPTIDREAM FOR PROSTATE CANCER THERANOSTICS IN JAPAN

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 (Bernama) -- Curium, a world leader in nuclear medicine, has entered into a strategic partnership with PDRadiopharma Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PeptiDream, for the clinical development, regulatory filing, and commercialisation in Japan of two agents, 177Lu-PSMA-I&T and 64Cu-PSMA-I&T.

Curium will continue to lead global development of the two agents and support PDRadiopharma through technology transfer to support the set-up of manufacturing lines in Japan, including a high throughput Copper 64 manufacturing line based on Curium’s proprietary technology.

According to a statement, Curium and PDRadiopharma have a long-standing relationship in the radiopharmaceutical field.

“As a global innovator in the field of radiopharmaceuticals with a promising late-stage oncology pipeline, Curium is delighted to partner with PDRadiopharma, which has more than four decades of experience in Japan.

“Curium and PDRadiopharma plan to leverage their complementary strengths to accelerate the development of innovative products for the benefit of prostate cancer patients in Japan,” said Curium Chief Executive Officer, International Markets, Chaitanya Tatineni.

The two agents target prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) expressed on prostate cancer cells and are being investigated for prostate cancer treatment and diagnostics.

Both target tumours with high levels of PSMA expression, thus potentially forming a theranostic (therapeutic & diagnostic) pair.

PSMA-targeted PET/CT imaging is increasingly emerging as a highly sensitive method for detection of locally recurrent or metastatic lesions in the context of biochemical recurrence and for localisation of primary prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer continues to be widely prevalent in Japan. Annually, there are approximately 90,000 to 100,000 new cases, with patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer having an overall survival rate of approximately three years in clinical trial settings and even shorter in the real world, and there remains a significant unmet medical need for therapies.

-- BERNAMA

YOUTH FORUM: YOUNG PEOPLE'S ROLE IN SHAPING OWN DIGITAL AGE

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 (Bernama) -- The 2024 International Youth Forum on Creativity and Heritage Along the Silk Road kicked off in Changsha, followed by Nanjing from Sept 22 to 28.

Themed "Reimagining Our Heritage: Stories of Resilience and Change", the forum discussed the new opportunities and challenges brought by big data, artificial intelligence, the metaverse, and other new technologies to the inheritance and protection of cultural heritage in the era of digitalisation and globalisation.

Sixty young representatives from 53 countries (including China) along the Silk Road, representatives from UNESCO's "Creative Cities Network" member cities at home and abroad, gathered to exchange ideas and engage in cross-cultural dialogue, according to a statement.

During the forum, in addition to academic sharing and exchanges, many experiential activities were also held, such as the Sino-Foreign Youth Gala Evening, Changsha Intangible Cultural Heritage Experience, and Night Tour of Tianxinge Pavilion, allowing participants to personally experience the unique charm of Changsha as the "World's Media Arts Capital".

Through communication and exchanges, young people from various countries generated ideas collisions, carried out cooperation and enhanced friendships through experiential interactions, and also provided new ideas and paths for the protection and inheritance of youth creativity and heritage.

-- BERNAMA

BATS REVEAL SUPERIOR ADAPTATION TO ENDURE HEART STRESS: NATIONAL HEART CENTRE SINGAPORE PARTNERS PARATUS SCIENCES SINGAPORE TO ACCELERATE HEART FAILURE CARE

SINGAPORE, Sept 25 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a first of its kind pilot study on the hearts of bats, researchers from National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS) discovered that bats have the ability to increase the pumping strength of the hearts when in stress. This suggests that the hearts of bats are highly robust and capable of preserving heart function during intense periods of stress and hence are protected against heart failure (HF).

Bat hearts: Superior adaptability to stress

In a collaborative pilot study, researchers from NHCS, in partnership with Duke-NUS Medical School, performed an investigative test to assess the pumping strength of the heart of bats and mice under stress by administering dobutamine, a medication commonly used to stress the heart. The results showed an increased pumping strength in the hearts of bats compared to mice, demonstrating that the bat’s heart may have better functional capacity that is supported by a highly robust heart system.

Bats are the only mammals capable of flight, and studies showed prolonged periods of high heart rates and increased cardiac workload during long hours of flight¹. Other evidence also documented the extended lifespan of bats are attributed by their unique genes capable of DNA repair and cell renewal to protect against diseases². All these findings point to the superior ability of the bats’ heart in adapting their pumping strength during stress and their high functioning heart system enable bats to protect and preserve their hearts from failing.

Investigating bat hearts to advance heart failure prevention

In Singapore, HF is a leading cause of hospitalisation and accounts for 17% of cardiac admissions locally³. As Singapore’s foremost cardiac centre, NHCS sees an estimated 3000 HF patients, offering comprehensive advanced HF management, including medical treatments, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), mechanical heart device implantations and heart transplantations.

Following the preliminary discovery of the pilot study, NHCS is advancing the research through a collaboration with Paratus Sciences Singapore (Paratus) through its "PREVENT-HF” research platform to further investigate the physiology of the bat heart to understand how it adapts to stress and discover new treatments to improve the heart system in humans to potentially effect positive outcomes for individuals with HF.

Beyond clinical care, NHCS has most recently embarked on creating the world’s first Asian patient-specific miniature human heart model, capable of producing key features of HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF)⁴. With the centre’s expertise in generating human patient-specific beating heart cells, NHCS and Paratus will take this collaboration forward with the aims to identify potential factors that help hearts of bats adapt to stress, validate these factors, and apply the findings in human patient-specific beating heart cells with HFpEF, and lastly, validate the efficacy in preventing HF using mouse models with HFpEF.

Paratus Sciences Singapore, a subsidiary established by Paratus Sciences, is a start-up biotechnology company that unlocks novel disease targets and accelerates drug discovery by leveraging the extraordinary adaptive biology of bats. Paratus Sciences is developing a proprietary discovery platform that integrates cell biology, genomics and informatics. This platform enables Paratus to analyse extensive data and compare patterns of disease resistance and health management in bats with disease development and progression in humans. Through this data-driven comparative analysis, the team from NHCS and Paratus aim to rapidly identify and validate treatment targets. With target identification, Paratus plans to accelerate the development of therapies for human diseases.

Professor Derek Hausenloy, Director, National Heart Research Institute Singapore (NHRIS), NHCS, shared, “We are proud to partner Paratus on this novel initiative to uncover what lies beneath the unique make-up of the hearts of bats that sets it apart from other mammals. There is much we can learn from the bat’s exceptionally high metabolic rate and efficient heart system, and we look forward to identifying the key factors that can protect the human heart and enhance patient outcomes.”

Dr. Theresa G.H. Heah, M.D. MBA, Chief Executive Officer, Paratus Sciences, said, “We are thrilled to embark on this pioneering collaboration with the National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS). It is a partnership that represents a pivotal advancement in our mission to reveal the genetic and evolutionary edge of bats to accelerate the discovery of human therapeutics. By merging our expertise in bat genomics and drug discovery with the groundbreaking research of NHCS in heart failure, this collaboration underscores our shared commitment to uncover transformative insights that could revolutionize therapeutic strategies and improve outcomes for patients.”

References:

1. O’Mara, Wikelski et al. 2017
2. Huang, Whelan et al. 2019
3. Chan WX, Lin W and Wong RCC. Transitional care to reduce heart failure readmission rates in South East Asia. Cardiac Failure Review 2016; 2: 85–9.
4. National Heart Centre Singapore Partners Medera’s Novoheart To Develop Asia’s First Bioengineered Human Heart-In-A-Jar With Heart Failure For Precision Medicine

Media Contact

Ms Belinda Lim
National Heart Centre Singapore
Mobile: (65) 9689 7453
Email: belinda.lim.s.m@nhcs.com.sg

Ms Amy Weng
National Heart Centre Singapore
Mobile: (65) 9740 9926
Email: amy.weng.xueqi@nhcs.com.sg

Paratus Sciences Singapore
media@paratussciences.com

About the National Heart Centre Singapore

The National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS) is a 185-bed national and regional referral centre for cardiovascular diseases, and the only centre in Singapore offering heart and lung transplantation programmes. Providing a comprehensive range of cardiac care services from preventive to rehabilitative, NHCS’ clinical outcomes for heart attack treatment, balloon angioplasty with stenting, and coronary bypass surgery, are comparable to international benchmarks. An academic medical institution, NHCS actively trains and educates healthcare professionals to continuously raise the standards of cardiac care, and conducts translational medical research with local and international collaborators to bring about better cardiac health for the community. For more information, please visit: www.nhcs.com.sg

About Paratus Sciences Corporation
Headquartered in New York, NY with a subsidiary in Singapore (Paratus Sciences Singapore), Paratus Sciences is accelerating the discovery of novel therapeutics by leveraging the extraordinary adaptive biology of bats. Our company’s proprietary platform, which fully integrates cell biology, genomics, and informatics, empowers us with massive data inputs through which we are able to compare the evolved patterns of disease resistance and health management in bats with patterns of disease development and progression in humans. Through this comparative exploration and analysis, we aim to rapidly and systematically identify novel targets and develop innovative therapeutics across a spectrum of therapeutic areas. Paratus is also committed to supporting the bat research community through its division, the Bat Biology Foundation.

Paratus is backed by a top-tier investor syndicate, including Polaris Partners, ARCH Venture Partners, ClavystBio, EcoR1 Capital, Leaps by Bayer, and Alexandria Venture Investments.

Visit paratussciences.com or follow us on LinkedIn to learn more.

Annex

Click to access the hi-res version of the top and bottom images.

Click here to access the hi-res version of the image.

The following are still images taken of the echocardiograms (i.e. ultrasound to create images of the heart) of the bat’s heart. They show the two-dimensional (2D) short-axis view of the left ventricle (LV) chamber, before and after dobutamine administration. Both images show a moment during a contraction of the bat’s heart.

On the left image, there is a small gap in the middle of the LV chamber during a contraction of the heart. On the right, the LV chamber is completely closed during contraction, suggesting a more powerful pump of blood.

Click to view the videos of the echocardiograms - before and after dobutamine administration. 

http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=49388

UNESCO-LISTED RICE-FISH-DUCK ECOSYSTEM BENEFITS SW CHINA'S GUIZHOU

AsiaNet 0200394

 

​^{The rice enters harvest season in Jiabang Township, Congjiang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province.}



GUIYANG, China, Sept. 19, 2024 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/--

Congjiang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, home to many ethnic groups, inherits an ancient and charming traditional Chinese agriculture -- vast expanses of mountain slopes carved into rice paddies where rice, fish and ducks flourish in co-existence.
 
The agricultural feat of growing one season of rice, keeping a batch of fish and raising a batch of ducks in the same rice paddy has been inherited for thousands of years in Congjiang.
 
The rice-fish-duck ecosystem in the county was listed as a pilot project for the protection of the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in 2011, and became the first batch of important agricultural cultural heritages in China in 2013.
 
With the start of China's traditional solar term Grain Rain, or Guyu, agricultural activities will kick into high gear on the terraced fields. Farmers put rice seedlings into the rice fields, and meanwhile, put some fish fry. When the fish fry grow to two to three fingers wide, the newly-hatched ducklings will also be put into the fields.
 
The rice fields provide natural food for fish and ducks, and the fish and ducks remove pests and weeds from the fields, greatly reducing the use of pesticides and herbicides. Fish and duck dung provides natural organic fertilizer for rice. Rice, fish and ducks are harvested from one rice field at the same time.
 
The county has made full use of the rice-fish-duck ecosystem, protecting the agricultural cultural heritage and helping local people get rid of poverty and achieve rural revitalization at the same time.
 
During the 15th conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity held in Canada in December 2022, the rice-fish-duck ecosystem in Congjiang County demonstrated to the world the ancestral wisdom of farming and biodiversity conservation experiences of local people for thousands of years.
 
In 2023, the rice-fish-duck ecosystem in Congjiang was collected and recognized for its excellence during the fourth call of the Global Solicitation on Best Poverty Reduction Practices.
 
Congjiang County boasts Kam Rice of China, a special kind of rice that has been domesticated for thousands of years by the local Dong people in Guizhou. With ethnic groups accounting for 90 percent of its population, the county is home to rich and colorful ethnic cultures and reputed as the national ecological cultural gene park.
 
Entering the mountainous villages in the county, traditional residences, drum towers and ancient barns are scattered. During the harvest season in autumn, rows of golden rice hang in the villages, reshaping a beautiful landscape.
 
Source: Guizhou Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs

SAVIYNT TO ADDRESS LOCAL IDENTITY CHALLENGES AT SINGAPORE EVENT

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 (Bernama) -- Saviynt, a cloud-native identity and governance platform solutions provider, announced its Converge Global Tour 2024 Singapore event, scheduled for Sept 20.

An exclusive, complimentary event for the company’s prospects, customers, and partners, visitors will be able to explore its converged platform, The Identity Cloud, and the latest innovations in identity security, including the newly released Saviynt Intelligence Suite.

As digital transformation accelerates across the Asia Pacific region, the demand for robust cybersecurity solutions is more critical than ever. This surge is fuelled by the increasing frequency of cyber threats, widespread adoption of cloud services, and heightened regulatory pressures.

Saviynt Senior Vice President, Dan Mountstephen said the company is thrilled to bring the Converge Global Tour to Singapore where it has been experiencing remarkable growth for the third year in a row.

“Singapore is a critical part of the APJ region and is at the forefront of digital transformation, and the Converge Global Tour event in Singapore is an exciting opportunity to connect with trailblazing organisations in the region,” he said in a statement.

The Converge Global Tour will cover the evolving landscape of identity and access governance, best practices for adapting to advanced cyber threats, and offer a closer look at Saviynt’s converged platform, showcasing its ability to secure digital transformation with simplicity and control.

The Singapore event will also feature Saviynt executives including Chief Product and Strategy Officer Jeff Margolies, Chief Revenue Officer Todd Rotger, and General Manager India Sapna Nair as well as industry analysts.

Margolies will share insights into the cutting-edge features of Saviynt’s Intelligence Suite, such as Intelligent Recommendations, which dynamically provides roles, access recommendations, and actionable insights that reduces access request and provisioning time by over 50 per cent and role management time by more than 80 per cent.

Also, it will showcase Copilot, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered assistant that simplifies tasks for users, enhances decision-making, and reduces certification fatigue while improving access revoke accuracy by up to 75 per cent; and Trust Scoring, a multi-dimensional scoring model that combines various risk signals into a single, weighted score, simplifying decision-making and supporting autonomous security processes.

-- BERNAMA