A novel capacitance sensor for fireside corrosion measurement

Fireside corrosion in coal-fired power plants is a leading mechanism for boiler tube failures. Online monitoring of fireside corrosion can provide timely data to plant operators for mitigation implementation. This paper presents a novel sensor concept for measuring metal loss based on electrical capacitance. Laboratory-scale experiments demonstrated the feasibility of design, fabrication, and operation of the sensor. The fabrication of the prototype sensor involved sputtering deposition of a thin metal coating with varying thickness on a ceramic substrate. Corrosion metal loss resulted in a proportional decrease in electrical capacitance of the sensor. Laboratory experiments using a muffle furnace with an oxidation environment demonstrated that low carbon steel coatings on ceramic substrate survived cyclic temperatures over 500 °C. Measured corrosion rates of sputtered coating in air had an Arrhenius exponential dependence on temperature, with metal thickness loss ranging from 2.0 nm/h at 200°C to 2.0μm/h2.0 μm/h at 400°C. Uncertainty analysis indicated that the overall measurement uncertainty was within 4%. The experimental system showed high signal-to-noise ratio, and the sensor could measure submicrometer metal thickness changes. The laboratory experiments demonstrated that the sensor concept and measurement system are capable of short term, online monitoring of metal loss, indicating the potential for the sensor to be used for fireside corrosion monitoring and other metal loss measurement

A NOVEL SENSOR AND MEASUREMENT SYSTEM FOR FIRESIDE CORROSION MONITORING IN COAL-FIRED BOILERS

Fireside corrosion in coal-fired power plants is a major obstacle to increase the overall efficiency for power producers. The increased use of opportunity fuels and low emission combustion modes have aggravated the corrosion on boiler tube walls in power plants. Corrosion-induced equipment failure could lead to catastrophic damage and inflict significant loss of production and cost for repair. Monitoring fireside corrosion in a reliable and timely manner can provide significant benefits to the plant operation. Current corrosion inspection and measurement are typically performed during scheduled maintenance outages, which is often after the damage is done. In the past, there have been many attempts to develop real time continuous corrosion monitoring technologies. However, there is still no short-term, online corrosion monitoring system commercially available for fireside corrosion to date due to the extremely harsh combustion environment. This report describes the results of a laboratory feasibility study on the development effort of a novel sensor for on-line fireside corrosion monitoring. A novel sensor principle and thin-film technologies were employed in the corrosion sensor design and fabrication. The sensor and the measurement system were experimentally studied using laboratory muffle furnaces. The results indicated that an accurate measure of corrosion rate could be made with high sensitivity using the new sensor. The investigation proved the feasibility of the concept and demonstrated the sensor design, sensor fabrication, and measurement instrumentation at the laboratory scale. An uncertainty analysis of the measurement system was also performed to provide a basis for further improvement of the system for future pilot or full scale testing

Detection of Brucellae in peripheral blood mononuclear cells for monitoring therapeutic efficacy of brucellosis infection.

BACKGROUND: Brucellosis is one of the most severe widespread zoonoses caused by the Gram-negative bacterium Brucella species. The diagnosis and clinical assessment of human brucellosis are very important for the management of patients, while there is a lack of effective methods to detect Brucellae. Classical culture of Brucella species is time consuming and often fails. A simple and sensitive assay is needed for diagnosis of Brucella infection and monitoring of treatment in man. METHODS: Blood samples and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected from 154 patients hospitalized for brucellosis. Brucella antibodies were detected by Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBPT), Standard Tube Agglutination Test (SAT) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Intracellular Brucellae were detected by blood culture and immunofluorescence staining (IFS). RESULTS: Among 154 brucellosis patients, 59.7% (92/154) were antibody reactive by RBPT, 81.8% (126/154) by SAT and 95.5% (147/154) by ELISA, respectively. Only 3.2% (5/154) of patient blood samples resulted in positive Brucella culture, while 68.8% (106/154) carried IFS detectable Brucella antigens in PBMCs. Gender (P = 0.01) but not age (P > 0.05) was a significant risk factor. The frequency of intracellular Brucella antigens was similar between patients receiving different treatment regimens (P > 0.05). However, a significant decrease of intracellular Brucellae was observed only in patients with acute brucellosis after the third course of treatment (P < 0.05), suggesting that current regimens to treat chronic brucellosis were not effective. CONCLUSIONS: IFS appears a sensitive assay for detection of Brucella antigens in PBMCs and could be used for diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of brucellosis in clinical practice

Prognostic significance of systemic immune inflammation index in patients with urothelial carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ObjectiveThis review assessed the prognostic significance of the systemic immune inflammation index (SII) in patients with urothelial carcinoma.MethodsWe performed a systematic review and cumulative meta-analysis of the primary outcomes according to the PRISMA criteria, and assessed study quality. Seven databases were searched: Embase, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and SinoMed, from the creation of each database until October 2024.ResultsThe meta-analysis included 31 studies, including 14,437 patients with urothelial carcinoma. A low SII was significantly associated with better recurrence-free survival (RFS) (HR = 1.37, 95%CI (1.19, 1.56), P &lt; 0.05), cancer-specific survival (CSS) (HR = 1.87, 95%CI (1.50, 2.34), P &lt; 0.05), and overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.42, 95%CI (1.23, 1.64), P &lt; 0.05). In addition, subgroup analysis found that higher SII was associated with poorer prognosis regardless of treatment regimen, tumor type, or SII cutoff, and that high SII was an important prognostic biomarker in the UC population.ConclusionA low SII may be associated with better RFS, CSS, and OS. The SII can be used as a is a potentially noninvasive and promising prognostic indicator for urothelial carcinoma; however, further studies with appropriate designs and larger sample sizes are needed to verify these findings

Evaluation of Reactivity of Monoclonal Antibodies Against Omp25 of Brucella spp.

Brucellosis is a serious zoonosis occurring mainly in developing countries, and its diagnosis is largely dependent on serologic detection and bacterial culture. In this study, we developed the murine monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against a conserved and major outer membrane protein 25 (Omp25) of Brucella species (B. spp.) for use in clinical diagnosis. The mAbs to Omp25 were produced by hybridoma technique, which were utilized for developing various immunoassays for detection of Brucellae, including Western blot (WB), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunochemical staining (ICS), immunofluorescence staining (IFS), and flow cytometry assay (FCM). A number of five mAbs (2B10, 4A12, 4F10, 6C12, and 8F3) specific to Omp25 were selected, including 2 IgG1, 2 IgG2a, and 1 IgG2b. Among them, mAbs 6C12, 8F3, and 4A12 reacted highly with B. melitensis (M5-90), B. abortus (S19, 104M, and 2308), and B. suis strain (S2). No cross-reactivity with Yersinia enterocolitica O:9, Salmonella spp., and Escherichia coli was found. By mapping Omp25 epitopes, mAb 6C12 was found as reacting with a semi-conformational epitope, and mAbs 4A12 and 8F3 as recognizing a different linear epitope, respectively. The paired mAbs were tested for detecting Brucella species, suggesting that 8F3 was suitable for solid phase capture and 6C12 or 4A12 was suitable for conjugation with HRP for detection of Brucella Omp25 in ELISA. The FCM was established by mAb 6C12 for detecting intracellular Brucellae-infected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from brucellosis patients. In conclusion, mAbs against Omp25 are precious reagents for detection of Brucellae in clinical samples with various immunoassays. mAb 6C12-based FCM could be potentially used for the monitoring of therapeutic efficacy for brucellosis in clinical practice