Accelerated Life Testing to Predict Service Life and Reliability for an Appliance Door Hinge

Appliance manufacturers have traditionally performed physical testing using prototypes to assess reliability and service integrity of new product designs. However, for white goods where service lives are measured in years or decades, the use of endurance testing to analyze long time reliability is uneconomical. As accelerated life testing (ALT) is more efficient and less costly than traditional reliability testing, the methodology is finding increased usage by appliance manufacturers. In the present study, a simulation-based ALT approach was used to predict the service life of a polyacetal hinge cam from a consumer refrigerator. A predictive life stress model based on cumulative surface wear under accelerated stress conditions was developed and used to predict time to failure under consumer use. Results show that the life stress model demonstrated good agreement with performance testing data and reasonably predicts hinge life

Characteristics and Risk Factors for Pressure Ulcers in Severe Trauma Patients Admitted to the Trauma Intensive Care Unit

Purpose A retrospective descriptive study was performed to develop strategies to manage or prevent pressure ulcers in patients with severe trauma being cared for in the trauma intensive care unit (TICU). Methods Study data was compiled from 315 patients with severe trauma (injury severity score ≥ 15) who were admitted to a general hospital from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021 and were being cared for in the TICU. For patients with pressure ulcers, the characteristics and associated factors of pressure ulcers were examined. Results There were 42 severe trauma patients (13.3%) with pressure ulcers, of which, 50.0% of cases occurred at the site of the coccyx. In 50% of patients, Stage 2 pressure ulcers were observed. The mean onset day of pressure ulcers was 9.74 days after admission. The occurrence of diabetes, critical care triage score, length of stay in intensive care, death, shock, dialysis, ventilator application, endotracheal intubation, peripheral insertion central catheter insertion, A-line insertion, body protector application, sedatives, blood pressure boosters, nasal cannula, high-flow oxygenators, oxygen tip application, drainage insertion, nasogastric tube nutrition, and ventilator application period were investigated. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the influencing factors for the development of pressure ulcers were endotracheal intubation, length of stay in the TICU, and age, in that order. Conclusion By identifying the characteristics and risk factors associated with pressure ulcers in patients with severe trauma, strategies can be developed to better prevent or manage pressure ulcers in the future

Design and Implementation of Storage System Using Byte-index Chunking Scheme

In this paper, we present an enhanced storage system that supports Byte-index chunking algorithm. The storage system aims to provide efficient data deduplication with high performance and to be performed in rapid time. We describe the overall procedure of Byteindex chunking based storage system including read/write procedure and how the system works. The key idea of Byte-index chunking is to adapt fixed-size block chunk scheme which are distributed to “Index-table ” by chunk’s both side boundary values. We have found that Byte-index chunking in storage system provides high performance compared with other chunking schemes. Experiments result shows that the storage system with Byte-index chunking compresses overall data with high deduplication capability and reduce the speed of file processing

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Arising in a Huge Hepatocellular Adenoma with Bone Marrow Metaplasia

Hepatocellular adenoma (HCA) is the most common type of benign liver tumor, and its major complication is malignant transformation to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, we report a case of HCC arising in HCA with bone marrow metaplasia in a 24-year-old Korean woman who presented with abdominal discomfort. A huge liver mass was found on abdominal ultrasonography. She underwent surgical hepatic resection, and the resected specimen was entirely involved by a 20-cm-sized tumor. Histological review revealed a well differentiated HCC arising from inflammatory HCA with β-catenin nuclear positivity and bone marrow metaplasia that contained hematopoietic cells. This case was unique because malignant transformation, inflammatory type HCA, β-catenin nuclear staining, and bone marrow metaplasia were simultaneously observed. Additionally, it should be noted that a large HCA with β-catenin activation can undergo malignant transformation and should be surgically resected in a timely manner

Synchronous double primary malignant tumor of the gallbladder and liver: a case report

We report a case of synchronous double primary tumor of gallbladder and liver. A 63-year-old male was admitted to the hospital complaining of abdominal discomfort. Enhanced computed tomography of the abdomen showed acute cholecystitis with tiny gallbladder stones and a 2.2 cm size enhanced nodule in the left lobe of the liver. Under the impression of acute cholecystitis with gall bladder stones and hepatocellular carcinoma of the left Liver, the patient underwent a laparotomy. At laparotomy, a mass was palpated on the surface of the neck portion of the gall bladder. Intraoperative frozen diagnosis revealed adenocarcinoma of the gall bladder. The patient was diagnosed as having gall bladder cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma, so extended cholecystectomy with dissection of regional lymph nodes and left hemihepatectomy were performed. Histological examination revealed moderated differentiated adenocarcinoma of gallbladder and hepatocellular carcinoma of liver. To our knowledge, the simultaneous occurrence of primary malignant tumor of the gallbladder and liver has never been published before. The patient is doing well with no evidence of recurrence 17 months after surgery

Eccrine Angiomatous Hamartoma Mimicking a Traumatic Hemorrhage

Eccrine angiomatous hamartoma (EAH) is a rare benign disease that is characterized by an abnormal proliferation of eccrine glands and vascular elements. It is generally congenital, but it can appear before puberty. It usually presents as a single plaque or nodule, but multiple patch-like lesions are also possible. EAH is mostly asymptomatic, but it is sometimes associated with pain or hyperhidrosis. It generally does not require aggressive treatment, but the lesion can be excised due to pain, enlargement and cosmetic reasons. A 3-week-old Korean female presented with a hemorrhagic skin lesion on the right foot since birth. There was no specific birth history. The lesion first appeared on the third toe of the right foot and quickly spread to almost half of the right foot. Histopathology examination revealed acanthosis in the epidermis and a proliferation of eccrine ducts, glands and capillaries. The eccrine glands were immunohistochemically-positive for carcinoembryonic antigen

Mitochondrial quality control and its emerging role in the pathogenesis of diabetic kidney disease

Most eukaryotic cells have mitochondrial networks that can change in shape, distribution, and size depending on cellular metabolic demands and environments. Mitochondrial quality control is critical for various mitochondrial functions including energy production, redox homeostasis, intracellular calcium handling, cell differentiation, proliferation, and cell death. Quality control mechanisms within mitochondria consist of antioxidant defenses, protein quality control, DNA damage repair systems, mitochondrial fusion and fission, mitophagy, and mitochondrial biogenesis. Defects in mitochondrial quality control and disruption of mitochondrial homeostasis are common characteristics of various kidney cell types under hyperglycemic conditions. Such defects contribute to diabetes-induced pathologies in renal tubular cells, podocytes, endothelial cells, and immune cells. In this review, we focus on the roles of mitochondrial quality control in diabetic kidney disease pathogenesis and discuss current research evidence and future directions