Acinetobacter baumannii has been a dreadful problem for ICU physicians for a long time. Bacteremic pneumonia (BP) caused by this organism has a higher mortality compared to other organisms. Between 2012 and 2015, 86 BP and 89 non-bacteremic pneumonia (NBP) patients from five ICUs were enrolled into the study. The 7-day and 14-day mortality rates were higher in BP patients than in NBP patients (P < 0.001). Procalcitonin elevation, high APACHEII score and recent surgery, were independently associated with BP episodes. Acute respiratory distress syndrome, coma, high APACHEII score and procalcitonin elevation, were independently associated with mortality in the BP group. Extensively drug-resistant isolates were detected in 34.9% of BP and 25.8% of NBP isolates. PFGE identified 12 and 9 genotypes in the BP and NBP isolates, respectively, with 6 genotypes shared by both groups. ST195 was the most prevalent type (40%), followed by ST457 (18.9%). The pandemic clonal complex 92 was predominant, accounting for 94.3% of the strains. For all studied periods, mortality remained higher in the BP than the NBP group. Disease severity was the main risk factor for high mortality in the BP group, and other factors related to mortality were infection, and not treatment or microbiology-related.

The elimination of inclusions in steelmaking processes has been widely studied. The removal of inclusions by slags containing the rare earth oxide Ce2O3 are studied using an integrated numerical model. The integrated model involves the inclusion motion model, interfacial tension calculation model, surface tension calculation model of slag, and the mass action concentration model, based on ion and molecule coexistence theory. The motion behaviors of both solid Al2O3 inclusions and 50%wtAl2O3–50%wtCaO liquid inclusions of varied sizes at CaO-Ce2O3-SiO2-Al2O3(-MgO) slag systems are evaluated. The results show that it is more difficult to remove the inclusions with smaller sizes and in slag with a higher viscosity. Liquid inclusions are more difficult to remove than solid inclusions. It is found that the CaO-Ce2O3-SiO2-Al2O3-MgO refining slag shows a better ability to remove Al2O3 inclusions than that of the CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-MgO slag. The reason for this is that the addition of the rare earth oxide Ce2O3 can decrease the viscosity of slags, as well as improving the wetting effects of slags on Al2O3 inclusions. For two slags systems, the CaO-Ce2O3-SiO2-Al2O3-MgO slag system shows a better ability to remove Al2O3 inclusions than the CaO-Ce2O3-SiO2-Al2O3 slag system. The addition of 5% to 8% Ce2O3 in a CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-MgO slag is an optimized case for industrial applications.

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