Effects of interleukin-6 and its neutralizing antibodies on peritoneal adhesion formation and wound healing

This study investigates the effects of preoperative IV administration of IL-6 and anti IL-6 on peritoneal adhesion formation and wound healing. Thirty-six male Sprague-Dawley rats (350-400 mg) were divided into three groups: control (group 1); IL-6 (group 2); and anti IL-6 (group 3). Under sterile conditions, all rats underwent a midline laparotomy. Ten cm2 of cecal serosa was abraded, the cecum further irritated with 0.1 ml of 70 per cent alcohol, and the incision closed in layers. At 3 weeks, peritoneal adhesions were graded using a score of 0 (none) to 3 (extensive, dense). Skin samples from incisional sites were examined tensiometrically (true stress and true strain), biochemically (collagen content), and histologically. Adhesion formation score was significantly increased in IL-6 group (2.78 +/- 0.44, Mean +/- SD) and decreased in anti IL-6 group (1.40 +/- 0.52) compared to control (2.00 +/- 0.50). (P < 0.03 by Kruskal Wallis test). There was no significant difference in true stress, true strain, and collagen content between the two treatment groups and controls at the 0.05 level by ANOVA. Histological analysis showed higher number of inflammatory cells and fibroblasts in IL-6 treated groups. We conclude that IL-6 plays a major role in peritoneal adhesion formation. Selective immunosuppression, using IL-6 neutralizing antibodies preoperatively, leads to a reduction of such adhesion formation without a significant effect on wound healing.     

一种确定内燃机各缸作功状况的动力学方法

提出一种确定内燃机各缸作功状况的动力学方法,以12V180机车柴油机为例,通过计算机模拟,结果表明,该方法诊断精度高,能满足故障诊断,各缸功率调整和内燃机控制等方面的要求。     

A Laboratory Study of Recovery with Carbon Dioxide around Critical Conditions of Trinidad's Heavy Oil and Tar Sands

Abstract

VAPEX is a heavy oil recovery process where two horizontal wells are placed low in a reservoir and solvents passed into the reservoir via the higher of the two wells. This lowers the oil viscosity and allows the oil–solvent mixture to move to the lower well. CO₂ could be a suitable solvent.

Some experimental work on heavy oil recovery using CO₂ at points around its critical conditions of 31°C and 73.3 bar is presented here. The recovery was between 15 to 30% with most of the extracts lying in the range above C₁₂. Reservoirs deeper than 2500 ft are therefore suited to this type of process.     

The Two-Rate Limit Test as a Tool for Determining Gas-in-place in Edge Water Drive Gas Reservoirs

Gas reservoirs off the southeast coast of Trinidad have wells that are prolific producers, with rates in excess of 100 million standard cubic feet per day. The determination of the gas in place is an essential parameter required before gas can be contracted. Unfortunately, these reservoirs exhibit water drive, which create estimation uncertainties, and several reservoirs are produced to shared-production facilities and water production is back allocated to fields. The drive mechanism must be identified to prevent poor estimation, particularly overestimation, of reserves. The authors use numerical simulation to evaluate the benefit of a two-rate limit test for evaluating gas in place at various times during the life of the local edge water drive gas reservoir. The results indicate that the two-rate limit test is useful and determinations using the flow test ensures that this surveillance data can be collected while still meeting stringent contracted gas delivery requirements.     

Effects of nicotine and amphetamine on latent inhibition in human subjects

The final color of all-ceramic restorations is dependent on the surrounding structures and on the ceramic itself. The degree that the layer of the composite luting agent contributes to this final color formation can only be estimated. Based on general optical physics, this paper reports on transmissivity of some commercially available composite luting resins and discusses how these theoretical results apply to clinical situations.     

Integration of high-Q GaAs varactor diodes and 0.25 μmGaAs MESFET's for multifunction millimeter-wave monolithic circuitapplications

Two technologies are demonstrated whereby high-Q, vertical-structure, abrupt-junction varactor diodes are monolithically integrated with 0.25-μm GaAs MESFETs on semi-insulating GaAs substrates for multifunction millimeter-wave monolithic circuit applications. Diodes with various anode sizes have been realized with measured capacitance swings of >2.1:1 from 0 V to -4 V and series resistances of approximately 1 Ω. Diodes having a zero bias capacitance of 0.35 pF have Q's of >19000 (50 MHz) with -4 V applied to the anode. Under power bias conditions, the MESFETs have a measured gain of >6 dB at 35 GHz with extrapolated values for f _t and f_max of 32 GHz and 78 GHz, respectively. Using these technologies, a monolithic Ka-band voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) containing a varactor diode, a 0.25-μm GaAs MESFET, and the usual MMIC passive components has been built and tested. At around 31 GHz, the circuit has demonstrated 60-mW power output with 300 MHz of tuning bandwidth     

Monolithic integration of an InP/InGaAs four-channel transimpedance optical receiver array

Fully functional four-channel transimpedance receiver array OEICs have been fabricated on 2" diameter InP substrates. Each receiver channel has a bandwidth of 200 MHz and an average input equivalent noise current of around 6 pA/ square root (Hz). The array chip is 3.7 mm*3.2 mm in size and contains 88 components. This is believed to represent the highest level of optoelectronic integration yet reported on InP.<>     

Free vibration of generally-laminated, shear-deformable, composite rectangular plates using a spline Rayleigh-Ritz method

A Rayleigh-Ritz method is presented for predicting the natural frequencies of flat rectangular laminates which can have arbitrary lay-up. The effects of through-thickness shear deformation are included in the analysis. The displacement field utilises B-spline functions in what has been referred to in earlier work as a B_{k, k−1}-spline Rayleigh-Ritz method and the approach is versatile in the specification of boundary conditions. The results of a number of applications are presented in the form of studies showing the convergence of frequency values with increase in the number of spline sections used. The analysis procedure is seen to have good convergence characteristics when dealing with laminates of thin and thick geometry.