Assessment of alternated cooling and heating treatment by US combined CEUS in the VX2 rabbit liver tumor model

Inoperable liver tumors are often treated by thermal ablation that destroys the tumor in situ and spares the adjacent hepatic tissue.Thermal–physical treatment has many advantages,but treatment by freezing or heating alone has some limitations.By taking the advantages and disadvantages of cryosurgery and thermotherapy into consideration,a new thermal technique that combines cryosurgery and radio frequency ablation has been proposed,thereby overcoming the disadvantages of each treatment strategy and improving therapeutic outcomes.This new approach remains to be systematically studied in the liver;therefore,this study was performed to estimate survival after alternated cooling and heating ablation therapy in a VX2 rabbit liver tumor model.Sixteen days after VX2 carcinoma implantation into the rabbit liver,tumors were treated with alternated cooling and heating ablation therapy.Rabbits were monitored for 6 months after treatment and assessed with ultrasound(US)and computed tomography at 1,7,14,and 30 days posttreatment.Untreated tumor-bearing animals served as the control group.Our results show that alternate freezing and heating ablation therapy resulted in a good recovery of VX2 rabbits.Compared with the control group,treated rabbits lived significantly longer(P\0.05),with 70%of treated animals surviving to 196 days posttreatment without metastasis or recurrence,while none of the controls did so.There was no local recurrence in the treatment group.All rabbits in the control group developed metastasis,while metastasis was only observed in 30% of treated rabbits.These results suggest that alternate cooling and heating ablation therapy can prolong the survival time of rabbits with VX2 liver tumors and is an effective method for tumor therapy.Furthermore,we also showed in this model that contrast enhanced US is a valid follow-up approach to assess treatment effectiveness.     

Decision making with fuzzy probability assessments and fuzzy payoff

1.INTRODUCTION Aproblemoftenfacedbymanydecisionmakersisthe selectionofsomealternativesinrandomuncertainsit uationsinwhichprobabilitiesofeventsareprovided byhumanbeings.Humanbeings,ratherthanbeing abletoprovideexactspecificprobabilities,areusually bestatassessingprobabilitiesinimpreciselinguistic termssuchashigh,low,about70%.Anaturaland usefulwayofrepresentingimpreciselinguistecproba bilitiesiswithafuzzysubset[1～3],afuzzyprobabili ty.Yager[4]investigatedtheproblemofdecision makingwithf…     

Influence of plasma on the densification mechanism of SPS under multi-field effect

The densification mechanism of an Fe-based alloy powder containing tiny oxide particles under the synergic multi-field effect of spark plasma sintering (SPS) was investigated. Metallographic microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to observe the morphology of samples sintered at different temperatures, and the temperature distribution in an individual spherical powder particle during sintering was calculated in consideration of the influence of plasma, which was qualified and quantified through the analysis of the U-I curve. The plasma was observed to play a substantial role in activating and heating the samples at the very early stage of sintering, whereas the joule-heat effect played a dominant role during sintering. Moreover, the plasma also facilitated the diffusion and migration of materials for neck formation.     

Precipitation and stability of reversed austenite in 9Ni steel

A new method was used to analyze the factors affecting the precipitation of reversed austenite during tempering. The samples were kept at various tempering temperatures for 10 min and their length changes were recorded. Then, the precipitation of reversed austenite which led to the length reduction was shown by thermal expansion curves. The results show that the effects of process parameters on the precipitation of reversed austenite can be determined more accurately by this method than by X-ray diffraction. When the quenching and tempering process is adopted, both the lower quenching temperature and higher tempering temperature can promote the precipitation of reversed austenite during tempering; and when the quenching, lamellarizing, and tempering process is used, intercritical quenching is considered beneficial to the precipitation of reversed austenite in the subsequent tempering because of Ni segregation during holding at the intercritical temperature.     

Precipitation behaviors of X80 acicular ferrite pipeline steel

The precipitation behaviors of X80 acicular ferrite pipeline steel were investigated by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The results show that dendritic precipitates in the as-cast steel slabs precipitate mainly in grain boundaries, and these dendritic precipitates dissolve and re-precipitate to two kinds of carbonitrides: Ti- and Nb-rich (Ti, Nb)(C, N) carbonitrides during reheating. Four types of precipitates mainly exist in the hot rolled plate: Ti-rich carbonitrides resulted from the dendritic carbonitrides undissolved during the reheating process; Ti-rich carbonitrides re-precipitated along austenite grain boundaries during the reheating process; NbC carbides mainly heterogeneously nucleated on the small pre-existing Nb-rich carbonitrides in the hot rolling process; and NbC carbides precipitated on dislocations during hot rolling.     

Effect of interface morphology on the mechanical properties of titanium clad steel plates

Interface morphology has important influence on the bond quality of titanium clad steel plates. The mechanical properties of titanium clad steel plates with wavy and straight interfaces were investigated by tensile-shear tests and bending tests. The interface morphology of the plates was examined by optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experimental results show that the shear strength of a wavy interface is higher than that of a straight interface. A wavy interface is the guarantee for obtaining high shear strength to provide a greater shear resistance. During the macrobending process, cracks appear in the swirl of the wave tip and ferrotitanium intermetallics. For in-situ observing the bending process by SEM, the wave tip of a wavy interface and the massive ferrotitanium intermetallics of a straight interface are places where cracks initiate and propagate. The results are the same as those observed in the macrobending process. Because of high hardness, the wave tip and the massive ferrotitanium intermetallics are hard in terms of compatible deformation.     

Effects of Carbon Content and Solidification Rate on the Thermal Conductivity of Grey Cast Iron

The thermal conductivity/diffusivity of pearlitic grey irons with various carbon contents was investigated by the laser flash method. The materials were cast in controlled thermal environments producing three dissimilar cooling rates. The cooling rates together with the carbon content largely influence the thermal conductivity of grey iron. Linear relationships exist between the thermal conductivity and the carbon content, the carbon equivalent, and the fraction of the former primary solidified austenite transformed into pearlite. The results show that the optimal thermal transport properties are obtained at medium cooling rates. Equations are given for the thermal conductivity of pearlite, solidified as pre-eutectic austenite, and the eutectic of grey iron. The thermal conductivity of pearlitic grey iron is modelled at both room temperature and elevated temperatures with good accuracy.     

Reverse-transformation austenite structure control with micro/nanometer size

To control the reverse-transformation austenite structure through manipulation of the micro/nanometer grain structure, the influences of cold deformation and annealing parameters on the microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of 316L austenitic stainless steel were investigated. The samples were first cold-rolled, and then samples deformed to different extents were annealed at different temperatures. The microstructure evolutions were analyzed by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), magnetic measurements, and X-ray diffraction (XRD); the mechanical properties are also determined by tensile tests. The results showed that the fraction of stain-induced martensite was approximately 72% in the 90% cold-rolled steel. The micro/nanometric microstructure was obtained after reversion annealing at 820-870℃ for 60 s. Nearly 100% reversed austenite was obtained in samples annealed at 850℃, where grains with a diameter ≤ 500 nm accounted for 30% and those with a diameter >0.5 μm accounted for 70%. The micro/nanometer-grain steel exhibited not only a high strength level (approximately 959 MPa) but also a desirable elongation of approximately 45%.     

In-situ observation on the deformation behaviors of Fe-Mn-C TWIP steel

The microstructure and crack behaviour of twinning induced plasticity (TWIP) steel during tensile deformation was investigated with in-situ scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that there are two modes of plastic deformation during tensile test in the Fe-Mn-C TWIP steel: dislocation gliding and deformation twins. During the process of tensile deformation, secondary deformed twins are found. Inclusions have played a role in the course of ductile fracture, and microcracks initiate from inclusions and twin-twin intersections.     

Research and development of 780 MPa cold rolling TRIP-aided steel

As an industry-university cooperative project, an experimental research was conducted to develop a new cold-rolled transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) steel with a tensile strength of 780 MPa and an elongation of 25% under the conditions that some processing parameters were preestablished according to the actual conditions of factory production lines. The optimal heat treatment conditions for obtaining excellent strength-ductility balance, specifically in intercritical annealing temperature and isothermal treatment temperature, were investigated by means of thermal simulation tests. Ultimately the desirable mechanical properties were attained successfully, and the microstructure and retained austenite stability were studied by optical microscopy (OM) and electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD). It has been discovered that the sizes of retained austenite grains are generally proportional to the sizes of carbon-clear space (ferrite and bainite) around them, and there is marked selectivity in their transition sequences under stress-strain.