The association of stone opacity in plain radiography with percutaneous nephrolithotomy outcomes and complications

Purpose: To investigate the influence of stone opacity in plain radiography on stone free rate and complications of percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL). Materials and Methods: A number of 101 patients who underwent PCNL between July-September 2015 were prospectively included. Stone opacity was judged on preoperative plain Kidney-Ureter-Bladder X-ray. Stone free rate was evaluated two weeks after the operation by ultrasonography and KUB. Results: There were 61 patients with opaque stones and 40 patients with non-opaque stones. The age, body mass index, preoperative creatinine, history of stone surgery, and stone size was not statistically different between patients with opaque and non-opaque stones. Neither operation duration nor access numbers were statistically significant between opaque and non-opaque stones. The frequency of stone free patients in opaque stones and nonopaque stones were 55/61 (90) and 30/40 (75) respectively (P = .04) The magnitude of hemoglobin drop in opaque stones and non-opaque stones were 1.9 ± 1.2 mg/dL versus 2.9 ± 1.7 mg/dL (P = .005). Conclusion: The stone free rate is lower and the magnitude of bleeding is higher in PCNL of non-opaque stones when compared to opaque stones if rigid instruments are used for nephroscopy

A survey of the water pollution with heavy metals Ni, Pb,Hg, Cr,Cd,V,As and total hydrocarbon in Bandar Shahid Rajaii, Bandar Abbas

Persian Gulf is semi-closed water with high salinity and temperature and high evaporation rate and low water exchange with Oman Sea. Operation of oil wells in the area contributes to the water pollution in this intricate ecosystem. We selected nine stations in Shahid Rajaii harbour and one out of the area where samples of water and sediments were taken for assessment of density of total hydrocarbons and heavy metals using spectrophotometric (FT-IR) and atomic absorption (AAS) methods, respectively

Study of productivity potential based on diversity and frequency of benthos in Shamrood River

Shamrood river is one of the important river located in the north of Iran. In order to identify the benthic invertebrates of the river, a series of sampling were carried out during one year. The samples were collected by surber sampler (40×40 cm). In this study, the identified invertebrates were: Ephemeroptera 8 genus with the most biodiversity; Plecoptera 2 genus; Coleoptera 4 genus (larvae and pupa); Trichoptera 5 genus (larvae and pupa); Diptera 6 genus in forms of larvae and pupa with the most abundance; and also Hydracarina, Oligochaeta and Turbelaria. The frequency of different species of benthoses were the same in headwater stations and there were more genera diversity. On the other hand, in downwater stations (with lower slope substrate), the ferquency of some families and genera such as Chironomidae and Hydropschae increased but the genera diversity decreased. Based on biological index of benthic invertebrates and mean annual ferquency (26.1); the total production potential and mean total biomass were estimated 348 kg/ha and 4.15 g/m2, respectively

Evaluation of Non- linear Growth Curves Models for Native Slow-growing Khazak Chickens

Native poultry is a valuable genetic source with high resistance against diseases providing an important subject for breeding programs. The non-linear mathematical modeling of the growth pattern may partly explain the relationship between requirements and body weight to precise feeding that plays a vital role in the animal enterprises. A study was conducted to compare five non-linear models including Gompertz, Richards, Lopez, Logistic, and Von Bertalanffy describing the growth curve of Khazak native chickens. A total of 120 Khazak chickens (male and female) were individually weighed from 0 to 29 weeks under the same condition. The models were fitted on body weight data set and then evaluated by goodness-of-fit criteriaincluding root mean square error (RMSE), Bayesian information criterion (BIC), Akaike information criterion (AIC), and adjusted coefficient of determination (R2Adj). Based on goodness-of-fit criteria, Lopez model was the most suitable one for describing the growth curves in female and male chickens. The effect of sex was significantly important on curve parameters in all models (P< 0.05). The highest and lowest initial weight (W0) parameter was estimated by Logistic and Richards models, respectively, however, the other parameters of the growth curves were higher in Lopez model compared to others. Male chickens had higher values for age (ti), and weight (wi) at inflection point than females. Using an appropriate model to describe the growth curve in native Khazak chickens could increase the accuracy of selection for rapid growth at early stages of age

Clear-cell carcinoma originating from cesarean section scar: two case reports

Background: Clear-cell carcinoma arising from the surgical cesarean section scar is very infrequent. The present study reports two patients with clear-cell carcinoma arising from an abdominal wall scar 20 and 23 years after their last cesarean section. Case presentation: Both Iranian patients had prior cesarean sections nearly 20 years earlier. Patients 1 and 2 had transverse and vertical abdominal incisions, respectively. The initial clinical presentation was a huge lower abdominal mass at the site of the previous cesarean section scar. Both patients underwent abdominal wall mass biopsy. The histological analysis revealed the presence of malignancy. Both patients underwent full-thickness resection of the abdominal wall mass. All surgical margins were tumor-free; however, patient 1 had a very narrow tumor-free margin near the pubic symphysis. As the imaging report of patient 2 revealed the presence of a pelvic mass, the exploration of the intraperitoneal space, simple total abdominal hysterectomy (TAH), bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO), and the excision of enlarged pelvic lymph nodes were performed during the surgery. Six cycles of paclitaxel and carboplatin every 3 weeks as adjuvant chemotherapy was administered for both patients after the surgery. One of the patients had disease recurrence 5 months after the termination of chemotherapy, and the other is still disease-free. These two patients had similar pathology and received a similar initial adjuvant treatment; however, they were different in terms of the direction of tumor spread, tumor distance from the pubic symphysis, status of tumor margins, and surgical procedures. Conclusions: We encountered distinct prognoses in the clear-cell carcinoma of cesarean section scars presented herein. The researchers can recommend complete surgical excision of the abdominal wall mass with wide tumor-free margins, exploration of the abdominopelvic space, TAH, and BSO during the first surgery. © 2021, The Author(s)

Re-Architecting the NASA Wire Derating Approach for Space Flight Applications

Mr. Steve Rickman, NASA Technical Fellow for Passive Thermal, proposed a pathfinder study to develop an apparatus for wire and wire bundle thermal testing to measure their performance, and to support development of thermal analytical models. Development of such capability would enable wire and wire bundle amperage capacity. The goal of this study was to assess the feasibility of developing physics-based and regression thermal models of single wires and wire bundles. This report contains the outcome of the NESC assessment