Temporary bilateral sensorineural hearing loss following cardiopulmonary bypass -A case report-

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss has been reported to occur following anesthesia and various non-otologic surgeries, mostly after procedures involving cardiopulmonary bypass. Unilateral sensorineural hearing loss resulting from microembolism is an infrequent complication of cardiopulmonary bypass surgery that has long been acknowledged. Moreover, there are few reports on the occurrence of bilateral sensorineural hearing loss without other neurologic deficits and its etiology has also not been determined. We describe here a rare case of bilateral hearing loss without other neurologic deficits in an otherwise healthy 27-year-old woman who underwent cardiopulmonary bypass surgery for repair of severe mitral valve stenosis. The patient suffered from profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears that was recognized immediately upon extubation, and audiometry tests confirmed the diagnosis. Without any treatment, her hearing recovered almost completely by the time of her discharge one week after surgery

Heterogeneous nanograin structured NiO-YSZ anodes via a water-in-oil microemulsion route for solid oxide fuel cells

A unique nanostructured NiO-yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) composite is synthesized in-situ via a water-in-oil microemulsion technique for the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anode. Thermogravimetric analysis and X-ray diffraction confirm that as-synthesized powders are crystallized in-situ at ∼500 °C as the distinct NiO and YSZ phases without any impurities. Moreover, transmission electron microscopy analysis reveals that the as-synthesized primary particles via microemulsion are ∼40 nm in size and have a characteristic structure in which NiO and YSZ nanograins are heterogeneously distributed. The electrochemical activity of the nanostructured NiO-YSZ composite is evaluated using an YSZ supported cell with a La0.8Sr0.2MnO3-δ-YSZ (50:50 wt.%) cathode. The maximum power density of the SOFC employing the microemulsion-mediated NiO-YSZ anode is 2.2 times greater than that of the SOFC with the conventionally ball-milled nano-sized NiO-YSZ anode. The higher performance with our nanocomposite NiO-YSZ anode is primarily attributed to its heterogeneous nanograin structure, thus leading to a significant increase in triple phase boundary densities. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.

On the Period Change of the Contact Binary GW Cephei

BVR CCD observations of GW Cep were made on 15 nights in November through December 2008 with a 1-m reflector at the Jincheon station of the Chungbuk National University Observatory. Nineteen new times of minimum lights for GW Cep were determined and added to a collection of all other times of minima available to us. These data were then intensively analyzed, by reference to an O-C diagram, to deduce the general form of period variation for GW Cep. It was found that the O-C diagram could be interpreted as presenting two different forms of period change: an exclusively quasi-sinusoidal change with a period of 32.6 years and an eccentricity of 0.10; and a quasi-sinusoidal change with a period of 46.2 years and an eccentricity of 0.36 superposed on an upward parabola. Although a final conclusion is somewhat premature at present, the latter seems more plausible because late-type contact binaries allow an inter-exchange of both energy and mass between the component stars. The quasi-sinusoidal characteristics were interpreted in terms of a light-time effect due to an unseen tertiary component. The minimum masses of the tertiary component for both cases were calculated to be nearly the same as the 0.23-0.26 M⊙-ranges which is hardly detectable in a light curve synthesis. The upward parabolic O-C diagram corresponding to a secular period increase of about 4.12 × 10^(-8) d/yr was interpreted as mass being transferred from the lesser to more massive component. The transfer rate for a conservative case was calculated to be about 2.66 × 10^(-8) M⊙/yr which is compatible with other W UMa-type contact binaries