Preparation and electrical properties of Li–Si–Al–O–N ceramics

AbstractCeramic samples were synthesized by hot pressing mixtures of Li3N, Si3N4, AlN, Al2O3, and Li2CO3 with nominal compositions of LiSi2−xAlxOxN3−x (x=0–0.75) at 20MPa and 1773–2073K in a N2 atmosphere of 0.10MPa. The samples prepared with nominal compositions, x=0.25 and 0.50, showed electronic conductivities of 2.2 and 4.2Sm−1 at room temperature with activation energies of 3.8 and 3.9kJmol−1, respectively. Electronic conductive parts were detected in the sample of x=0.50 by conductive atomic force microscopy (AFM). In this sample, a glassy thin layer, having a Si/Al atomic ratio of 3.8, was observed between the grains of LiSi2−xAlxOxN3−x solid solution by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). It was expected that the glassy phase of grain boundaries is an electronic conductive pathway besides the conductive parts observed by AFM

Agreement between continuous cardiac output measured by the fourth-generation FloTrac/Vigileo system and a pulmonary artery catheter in adult liver transplantation

In liver transplantation for end-stage liver failure, monitoring of continuous cardiac output (CCO) is used for circulatory management due to hemodynamic instability. CCO is often measured using the minimally invasive FloTrac/Vigileo system (FVS-CCO), instead of a highly invasive pulmonary artery catheter (PAC-CCO). The FVS has improved accuracy due to an updated cardiac output algorithm, but the effect of this change on the accuracy of FVS-CCO in liver transplantation is unclear. In this study, we assessed agreement between fourth-generation FVS-CCO and PAC-CCO in 20 patients aged ≥ 20 years who underwent scheduled or emergency liver transplantation at Kyoto University Hospital from September 2019 to June 2021. Consent was obtained before surgery and data were recorded throughout the surgical period. Pearson correlation coefficient (r), Bland–Altman and 4-quadrant plot analyses were performed on the extracted data. A total of 1517 PAC-CCO vs. FVS-CCO data pairs were obtained. The mean PAC-CCO was 8.73 L/min and the mean systemic vascular resistance was 617.5 dyne·s·cm⁻⁵, r was 0.48, bias was 1.62 L/min, the 95% limits of agreement were − 3.04 to 6.27, and the percentage error was 54.36%. These results show that agreement and trending between fourth-generation FVS-CCO and PAC-CCO are low in adult liver transplant recipients