Can primary failure of arteriovenous fistulas be anticipated?

Primary failure, early thrombosis, and inadequate maturation are the main complications encountered in arteriovenous fistulas. Doppler ultrasonographic assessment of flow‐mediated dilatation (FMD) is currently used for the early diagnosis of atherosclerosis. Clinical experience in the use of FMD for preoperative assessment of vasculature is rather limited; therefore, we sought to elucidate the relationship between preoperative FMD and primary failure of the fistula. Thirty‐three patients with end‐stage renal disease who were admitted to our hospital between January and July 2005 were included in our study. Medical histories were established and the internal diameter, wall thickness, peak systolic flow rate, and resistive index (RI) were measured in the cephalic vein and radial and brachial arteries. Flow‐mediated dilatation and nitrate‐mediated dilatation (NMD) of the brachial artery were assessed. Fistulas were evaluated 48 hours and 30 days postoperatively. Brachial arterial internal diameter was lower in all fistulas that developed primary failure in 48 hours (0.4 ± 0.07 cm vs. 0.35 ± 0.07 cm, P = 0.016). The radial artery RI was found to be significantly elevated in fistulas with both early (48‐hour) and late‐term (30‐day) failure (0.9 ± 0.08 vs. 0.68 ± 0.3, P = 0.01, and 0.86 ± 0.8 vs. 0.67 ± 0.3, P = 0.038, respectively). The brachial artery peak systolic flow rate was significantly reduced in patients in the radiocephalic fistula group that developed early and late‐term failure (42.9 ± 12 cm/sec vs. 68.4 ± 10 cm/sec, P = 0.01, and 44.1 ± 13 cm/sec vs. 57.7 ± 16 cm/sec, P = 0.038, respectively). Our study, constrained by a smaller, older patient group, was unable to show a statistically significant correlation between FMD, NMD, and fistula success. Any single parameter may not be sufficient to assess vascular health preoperatively. A multifactorial approach incorporating parameters evaluating arterial and venous function might be more effective in predicting fistula success. Further studies on larger patient groups may indeed demonstrate the value of these assessments.     

Determination of sunset yellow (E110) in foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals after separation and preconcentration via solid‐phase extraction method

The two novel preconcentration and separation methods based on adsorption onto Amberlite XAD‐1180 and Amberlite XAD‐16 polymeric resins for spectrophotometric determination of sunset yellow dye were developed. The parameters, affecting the quantitative recovery, including pH, sample and eluent flow rates, eluent type, sample volume, were investigated and optimised. The interference effects of some cations, anions and widely used dye were also studied. At the optimum conditions, detection limits of the methods were found as 2.0 and 1.6 μg L^?1 for Amberlite XAD‐1180 and Amberlite XAD‐16 resins, respectively. Linear dynamic ranges of the methods were obtained in the range of 0.2–50.0 and 0.2–20.0 μg mL^?1 for Amberlite XAD‐1180 and Amberlite XAD‐16 resins, respectively. The relative standard deviations were below than 7% and 5% for Amberlite XAD‐1180 and Amberlite XAD‐16 resins, respectively. The determination of dye was performed at 483.0 nm using spectrophotometry. Validations of the methods were performed comparatively with determination of the sunset yellow content of some foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals.     

Polymers of vinylphosphonic acid,acrylonitrile, and methyl acrylate and their nanofibers

In this study, a small amount of vinylphosphonic acid was used to produce fire-retardant copolymers and terpolymers from acrylonitrile and methyl acrylate. The structures of copolymer and terpolymers were elucidated by ¹H-NMR and phosphorous analysis. Thermal decomposition of vinylphosphonic acid-containing copolymers and terpolymers started at lower temperatures than of poly(acrylonitrile-co-methyl acrylate). Methyl acrylate contributes to the thermal resistance of the terpolymers. Poly(acrylonitrile-co-methyl acrylate-co-vinylphosphonic acid) with a phosphorous content about 0.25% burned at a slower rate and emitted less smoke compared to poly(acrylonitrile-co-methyl acrylate). The burning tests showed that both copolymer and terpolymers containing vinylphosphonic acid behaved as a fire-retardant polymer. The phosphonate and phosphonic acid groups in the copolymer and terpolymers accelerate the cyclization of nitrile groups and inhibit the fire in the gas phase. Nanofibers were successfully produced by the electrospinning method from the copolymers and terpolymers containing vinylphosphonic acid moiety.     

Free vibration analysis of an adhesively bonded functionally graded double containment cantilever joint

In this study, Genetic Algorithms (GAs) combined with the proposed neural networks were implemented to the free vibration analysis of an adhesively bonded double containment cantilever joint with a functionally graded plate. The proposed neural networks were trained and tested based on a limited number of data including the natural frequencies and modal strain energies calculated using the finite element method. GA evaluates a value generated iteratively by an objective function and this value is calculated by the finite element method. The iteration process restricts us apparently to use directly the finite element method in our multi-objective optimisation problem in which the natural frequency is maximised and the corresponding modal strain energy is minimised. The proposed neural networks were used accurately to predict the natural frequencies and modal strain energies instead of calculating directly them by using the finite element method. Consequently, the computation time and efforts were reduced considerably. The adhesive joint was observed to tend vertical bending modes and torsional modes. Therefore, the multi-objective optimisation problem was limited to only the first mode which appeared as a bending mode. The effects of the geometrical dimensions and the material composition variation through the plate thickness were investigated. As the material composition of the horizontal plate becomes ceramic rich, both natural frequency and modal strain energy of the adhesive joint increased regularly. The plate length and plate thickness were more effective geometrical design parameters whereas the support length and thickness were less effective. However, the adhesive thickness had a small effect on the optimal design of the adhesive joint as far as the natural frequencies and modal strain energies are concerned. The distributions of optimal solutions were also presented for the adhesive joints with fundamental joint lengths and material compositions in reference to their natural frequencies and corresponding modal strain energies.     

Effect of different dentin adhesives and application modes on sealing ability of amalgam restorations

Purpose: The aim of the study was to evaluate the sealing ability of bonded amalgam restorations using different adhesive materials with different adhesive application methods including amalgam bonding application. Materials and methods: The prepared Class-V cavities were randomly assigned to four application groups of four tested dual-curing dentin adhesives (Scotchbond Multi-Purpose Plus, XP Bond, Xeno IV and Clearfil Liner Bond 2V), dual-curing resin-based cement (Panavia F2.0) and a control group (unlined amalgam). Group 1 adhesives were applied according to the instructions for direct light-curing, Group 2 chemical-curing mode was applied according to the manufacturer’s amalgam bonding instructions. Group 3 adhesives were first applied in light-curing mode, and then amalgam bonding adhesive was applied. Group 4 adhesives were first applied in chemical-curing mode, followed immediately by light-curing mode. After that, amalgam adhesive parts were applied; then, the amalgam was condensed and carved. After storage for 24 h in distilled water at 37 °C, restorations were finished and polished. The teeth were then thermocycled (500 cycles between 5 and 55 °C), and the specimens were examined for microleakage using methylene blue as a marker. Results: Compared to the control group, the adhesive application modes significantly reduced microleakage for both dentin and enamel margins (p < 0.05). In dentin margins of the adhesives tested, Group 4 showed the lowest leakage score. On the enamel margins for Scotchbond Multi-Purpose Plus and XP Bond, Group 1 showed the highest microleakage (p < 0.05). Conclusion: According to marginal sealing ability and ease of application, Group 2 was recommended for the etch and rinse systems, and Group 4 was also recommended for the self-etch systems under amalgam restorations.     

Role of Composite Phase Change Material on the Thermal Performance of a Latent Heat Storage System: Experimental Investigation

复合相变材料对潜热储能系统中热性能作用的实验研究

Jasim Abdulateef¹, Ahmed F. Hasan^2*,Mustafa S. Mahdi²

（1. 迪亚拉大学 机械工程系,巴古拜 32001,伊拉克;2.迪亚拉大学 化学工程系,巴古拜 32001,伊拉克）

摘要：

石蜡是可用于潜热储能系统单元（LHSU）的理想的相变材料（PCM）。这种潜热储能单元的使用因相变材料导热性差而受到限制。本文采用铝和相变材料制成的金属泡沫生产复合相变材料,以此作为相变材料-潜热储能单元中的导热材料,并使用水作为传热流体（HTF）。通过实验,评估了使用纯相变材料和复合相变材料的潜热储能单元的传热特性。研究包括熔化和凝固过程中相变材料的时变可视化。此外,热存储室内放置一个热电偶网络,记录每个过程的温度分布。结果表明,复合相变材料-潜热储能单元在熔化和凝固过程中均表现出较好的性能。由于金属泡沫的作用,复合相变材料-潜热储能单元的熔化时间比简单的相变材料-潜热储能单元快83%左右,凝固时间减少85%左右。

关键词：相变材料;金属泡沫;潜热;复合相变材料

     

Persistent left superior vena cava: Two case reports and a review from nephrologists’ perspective

Thoracic venous anomalies without congenital heart anomalies are present in minority of the population, but they are frequent enough to be encountered while placing hemodialysis catheters through the jugular or subclavian veins. Persistent left superior vena cava is the most commonly seen anomaly and it is rarely noticed before the observation of an unusual course of hemodialysis catheter or guidewire on chest X‐ray. We present two patients with previously unspotted persistent left superior vena cava and uncomplicated hemodialysis catheter insertions through the internal jugular veins with good catheter functions. Review of the relevant literature from a nephrologists’ perspective with technical aspects is provided.     

Real-time multi-camera video analytics system on GPU

In this article, parallel implementation of a real-time intelligent video surveillance system on Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is described. The system is based on background subtraction and composed of motion detection, camera sabotage detection (moved camera, out-of-focus camera and covered camera detection), abandoned object detection, and object-tracking algorithms. As the algorithms have different characteristics, their GPU implementations have different speed-up rates. Test results show that when all the algorithms run concurrently, parallelization in GPU makes the system up to 21.88 times faster than the central processing unit counterpart, enabling real-time analysis of higher number of cameras.