Search

Today, top NASCAR and NHRA engine builders use an extreme-plateau honing technique. For example, a 410ci methanol-injected engine needs a deeper RVK (valley depth) than a gasoline-fueled EFI engine, since an injected-methanol engine typically runs twice as much fuel than the EFI gasoline engine. No experienced engine builder would intentionally bolt a cylinder head to an engine block without installing a gasket between the block and cylinder head. [Extracted from the article]

Engine Heat In a recent test at Shaver Specialties Racing Engines, the effect of ring thickness and tension on engine operating temperature was measured. Many other off-road racing engines use traditional fractional rings, and those teams tend to struggle to keep engines cool in the desert, while the JD-1 engine runs remarkably cool. The evidence clearly shows that thinner piston rings not only reduce engine temperature (both water temperature and oil temperature) but also reduce cylinder bore wear. [Extracted from the article]

There is an old adage that says, 'You can't change what you can't measure.' Accurate measurements are basically facts you can use to make measurable changes. When it comes to [...]

Because the type of ZDDP in diesel engine oil is not the same as the ZDDP in gasoline engine oil. And in case you didn't know, some diesel engine oils don't have more ZDDP than gasoline engine oils (also known as passenger car motor oil, or PCMO). To get a little technical, diesel engine oils typically contain primary ZDDP, and gasoline engine oils contain a blend of secondary and primary ZDDP. [Extracted from the article]

This report summarizes a recent meeting cosponsored by the American Society of Transplant Physicians and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases to formulate minimal criteria by which patients with severe liver disease will be placed on the waiting list for liver transplantation. The participants agreed that only patients in immediate need of liver transplantation should be placed on the waiting list. Patients should not be placed in anticipation of some future need for such therapy. It was agreed that minimal criteria could assist but not replace the clinical judgment of the transplant professionals at individual centers. The criteria will be summarized below for adult patients with acute or chronic liver disease. The most important non- disease-specific criterion for placement on the transplant waiting list was an estimated 90% chance of surviving 1 year. This translated into a Child-Pugh score of ≥ 7 for patients with cirrhosis which places the patient in Child-Pugh class B or C. Cirrhotic patients who have experienced gastrointestinal bleeding caused by portal hypertension or a single episode of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis would meet the minimal criteria irrespective of their Child-Pugh score. There were disease-specific criteria also. These include a sole minimal criterion for patients with fulminant hepatic failure regardless of etiology of the onset of stage 2 hepatic encephalopathy. A requirement for 6 months abstinence from alcohol before placement on the transplant waiting list was considered appropriate for most patients with alcoholic liver disease. Exceptional cases could get access to the waiting list through a regional review process. Chronic cholestatic diseases present difficulties because of a different natural history than that of chronic hepatocellular diseases. The use of specific risk scores for primary biliary cirrhosis and primary sclerosing cholangitis will likely replace Childs-Pugh classification as the scoring systems become refined. Minimal criteria for any patient with a primary hepatocellular cancer would admit any patient with a tumor confined to the liver irrespective of size or number of tumors, after careful investigation had failed to show spread to lymph nodes, the portal vein, or distant organs. Unusual or rare indications for liver transplantation, including Budd-Chiari syndrome, Wilson's disease, and other hereditary disorders, were also discussed. Finally, it was agreed that there should be no absolute contraindications to placement of patients on the liver transplant waiting list. These criteria should be open to regular review to accommodate advances in the field. (Liver Transpl Surg 1997 Nov;3(6):628-37)

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Organ donors are a potential source of transmissible disease after transplantation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk of acquiring hepatitis B among transplantation recipients of livers from donors without serum hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) but with antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc).

Essential mixed cryoglobulinemia is frequently associated with chronic hepatitis C. Three patients undergoing transplantation for end-stage chronic hepatitis C in whom cryoglobulinemia with vasculitis developed after transplantation are described. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was confirmed in the 3 patients by the presence of HCV RNA detected by polymerase chain reaction. The time interval between transplantation and the first expression of vasculitis was 1, 5, and 17 months. Type II cryoglobulins were detected in the sera of all 3 patients. All patients developed cutaneous vasculitis, requiring digital amputation in 1 case. Two patients developed membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis. Plasmapheresis and the addition of cyclophosphamide led to an improvement in the renal disease in 1 case, whereas no treatment was able to reverse the renal failure in the other case. One patient developed an autoimmune hemolytic anemia 4 years after transplantation. One patient died of multiorgan failure 5 months after transplantation. We propose that HCV-associated cryoglobulinemia could become clinically significant only after orthotopic liver transplantation, possibly due in part to posttransplant increase in viremia as reflected by HCV RNA levels. These results confirm previous observations suggesting that HCV infection is important etiologically in the pathogenesis of cryoglobulinemia. (Gastroenterology 1996 Jan;110(1):265-70)