The Changes of Baroreflex Sensitivity During Head-up Tilt Test and Its Clinical Significance in the Patients with Vasovagal Syncope

Objective To study thechanges of baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) during head - up tilt test (HUT) in patients with vasovagal syncope (VS), and to examine the relationship between baroreflex sensitivity and neurohormonal factors. Furthermore, to investigate the effects of the changes of BRS on VS. Methods Forty - two patients with unexplained syncope (Among the 42 patients, there were 22 patients with positive HUT and 20 patients with negative HUT respectively) and 20 healthy volunteers (with negative HUT) underwent passive head - up tilt testing, Ante-cubital vein blood samples were taken before and after HUT, or at syncope. The fasting plasma endothelin , serum nitric oxide (NO), serum NE were measured, the BRS was assessed on the basis of the linear regression slope the RR interval versus systolic arterial blood pressure during the increment in blood pressure after intravenous administration of phenylephrine. Results (1) During the syncope, the BRS significantly reduced in HUT(+) group than baseline. At the end of tilt, the level of plasma ET, serum NO in patients with positive HUT significantly increased compared with baseline or normal controls, and the plasma concentration of NE also had the trend of increase. (2) By multiple regression analysis, a significant negative correlation was found between baroreceptor sensitivity and the plasma ET, NO at the end of HUT in patients with positive HUT, but there was no relationship between BRS and NE. Conclusions During the syncope occure, the BRS in patients with VS decreased significantly compared with normal controls. The abnormal plasma ET, NO concen-tration might contribute to the mechanism of VS.

PROPERTIES OF YTTRALUMINIZING COATING ON Ni-BASE SUPERALLOYS

The yttraluminizing coating on the Ni-base superalloys has been developed by dipping the specimens in a specially made yttrium-containing slurry as an underlayer and over spraying a Cr-Al slurry as a protective layer,then heating to 1060℃ and holding for 1 h under argon atmosphere.Analysis by EPMA showed that the yttrium was concentrated in the intermediate zone of the coating as metallic compound Ni-5Y.After exposure to air up to 1000℃,the oxidation test revealed that the anti-oxidation resistance of the yttraluminizing coating with post-aluminizing is much superior to that with single aluminizing only.

Evaluating the quality of feed fats and oils and their effects on pig growth performance

Feed fats and oils provide significant amounts of energy to swine diets, but there is large variation in composition,quality, feeding value, and price among sources. Common measures of lipid quality include moisture, insolubles,and unsaponifiables（MIU）, titer, and free fatty acid content, but provide limited information regarding their feeding value. Lipid peroxidation is an important quality factor related to animal growth performance and health, but maximum tolerable limits in various lipids have not been established. Several indicative assays can be used to detect the presence of various peroxidation compounds, but due to the complexity and numerous compounds produced and degraded during peroxidation process, no single method can adequately determine the extent of peroxidation. Until further information is available, using a combination of peroxide value, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances（TBARS）, and anisidine value appear to provide a reasonable assessment of the extent of peroxidation in a lipid at a reasonable cost. However, fatty acid composition of the lipid being evaluated should be considered when selecting specific assays. Predictive tests can also be used to estimate the stability or susceptibility of lipids to peroxidation and include active oxygen method, oil stability index, and oxygen bomb method. A review of 16 published studies with pigs has shown an average decrease of 11.4% in growth rate, 8.8% feed intake fed isocaloric diets containing peroxidized lipids compared to diets containing unperoxidized lipids of the same source.Furthermore, serum vitamin E content was generally reduced and serum TBARS content was increased when peroxidized lipids were fed in these studies, suggesting that feeding peroxidized lipids negatively affects metabolic oxidative status of pigs. However, it is unclear if antioxidants are useful additions to lipids to maintain optimal nutritional value, or if their addition to swine diets is beneficial in overcoming a metabolic oxidative challenge.

PHYSICAL SIMULATION OF INTERFACIAL CONDITIONS IN HOT FORMING OF STEELS

In the last few years,substantial experimental simulation and mumerical modelling hare been carried out in IMMPETUS to characterise the interfacial heat transfer and friction conditions during hot forging and rolling of steels. Emphasis has been placed on the influence of the oxide scale which forms on the steel workpiece. In the present paper, the experimental methods used for investigating interfacial heat transfer and friction conditions are described. Theses include hot flat rolling of steel slabs and hot axi- symmetric forging of steel cylinders and rings.Temperature measurements and computations demon- strate that for similar conditions, similar conditions, the effective interfacial heat transfer coefficients (IHTC) derived for hot rolling are significantly higher than those for forging, mainly due to the contribution of scale cracking during rolling. On the basis of experimental observations and numerical analysis,physical models for interfacial heat transfer in forging and rolling have been established. In addition, hot' sandwich' rolling and hot tensile tests with finite element modelling have been carried out to evaluate the hot ductility of the oxide scale.The results indicate that the defomation, cracking and decohesion behaviour of the oxide scale depend on deformation temperature, strain and relative strengths of the scale layer and scale - steel interface.Finaly, friction results from hot ring compression tests and from hot rolling with forward/backward slip measurements are reported.

Effects of High Temperature Oxidation on Mechanical Properties of Ti_3AlC_2

The oxidation tests of Ti_3AlC_2 were conducted at 1100 and 1200？C in air for 48 and 360 h, respectively,and the effects of high temperature oxidation on the flexural strength and hardness of Ti_3AlC_2 were investigated. The microstructure, grain size and phase compositions of Ti_3AlC_2 substrate didn＇t change after oxidation, hence the oxide removed Ti_3AlC_2 substrate maintained its initial flexural strength and hardness. However, the flexural strength of oxide retained Ti_3AlC_2 decreased by about 5%. Acoustic emission monitoring indicated that during the process of three-point bending test, the formed Al_2O_3 scale on Ti_3AlC_2 surface fractured firstly in a cleavage manner, then the substrate/oxide interface cracked,and finally the Ti_3AlC_2 substrate fractured. The mechanical degradation was caused by the preferential formation of cracks in brittle Al_2O_3 scale as well as at defective and lacunose grain boundaries of the substrate where stress concentration generated. The mechanical degradation was insensitive to oxidation temperature and time in the present conditions. In addition, the surface hardness increased significantly after oxidation due to the formed hard Al_2O_3 scale on the surface of Ti_3AlC_2 substrate.