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We present an illustrative case of a patient with advanced scleroderma who presented with a spontaneous pneumothorax, a condition that has only rarely been reported previously in association with scleroderma. Our patient and those previously reported had advanced pulmonary fibrosis with honeycombing and subpleural cysts, with spontaneous pneumothorax occurring secondary to cyst rupture. Our patient was treated with chest tube thoracostomy, but her spontaneous pneumothorax later recurred. She was then treated with talc pleurodesis and has not had a recurrence in 18 months of follow-up.Spontaneous pneumothorax remains a rare pulmonary manifestation of scleroderma, occurring only in patients with advanced pulmonary fibrosis associated with cyst formation and rupture. Initial management consists of chest tube insertion, but recurrence is high and may require pleurodesis or partial lobectomy. Physicians managing patients with scleroderma should be aware of spontaneous pneumothorax, especially in those with advanced pulmonary fibrosis and subpleural cysts.

Many physical and chemical problems in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are induced by the operating temperature of approximately 800 ~ 1000°C. The focus of the research in SOFC’s is, thus, on running the systems at the intermediate operating temperature range below 800 °C. A way to achieve this includes changing the electrolyte material in order to get a good ionic conductivity in the intermediate temperature range below 800 °C. In this work, gadolinium doped ceria is selected as the electrolyte, which was mixed with NiO for the anode material, and tape cast and laminated to produce a novel graded IT-SOFC . The cross-section of the SOFC cell was observed using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) showing a dense electrolyte layer. The operating temperature to test the cell was 500 and 550 °C. The electrochemical properties of the cell were measured using impedance spectroscopy. The ASR of unit cells was found to be between 2.67 and 4.62 Ω∙cm2. The electrochemical performance is discussed under the effect of porosity gradients at 500 and 550 °C.

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