Pattern of inheritance of idiopathic hypercalciuria in two families

Idiopathic hypercalciuria is a leading cause of frequency-dysuria syndrome in childhood. Different modes of inheritance have been suggested in this disease. This article presents the occurrence of idiopathic hypercalciuria in all children of two families. In the first family, a 5.5 year old girl with a history of renal stones and dysuria due to hypercalciuria, had two involved brothers and one sister. In the second family, hypercalciuria and medullary nephrocalcinosis were detected in two siblings who were admitted for polyuria and dysuria. Idiopathic type of hypercalciuria was diagnosed in these two families by normal laboratory exams and exclusion of other causes of normocalcemic hypercalciuria. According to the involvement of all offsprings (both sexes) in these two families, it is suggested that idiopathic hypercalciuria is an autosomal dominant disease with complete penetration. © 2006 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Evaluation of some biofilter substrates in freshwater recirculation system

The nitrifying bacteria acting on various biofilter substrates including: scoria, P.V.C., marble and zeolite were evaluated. The experiment started with manufacture of a recirculation system with 130 liter fresh water volume in 7 l.min-1 flow rate in 3 replicate for every treatment. The volume of each biofilter was 60×40×30cm and after achievement to stable environmental conditions the nitrifying bacteria at a concentration of 105 ml-1were inoculated in each biofilters. Daily 3-10mg.l-1 of NH4Cl was added to biofilters. The procedure was conducted by exposure of Ammonium and Nitrate concentrations and pH in biofilters. The results showed that the Scoria can be reliable substrate as biofilter, in which provide the best substrate for the growth and attachment of the nitrifying bacteria which can reduce the retention time of a biofilter from 40-60 to 15 days

A new method based on Type-2 fuzzy neural network for accurate wind power forecasting under uncertain data

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Nowadays, due to some environmental restrictions and decrease of fossil fuel sources, renewable energy sources and specifically wind power plants have a major part of energy generation in the industrial countries. To this end, the accurate forecasting of wind power is considered as an important and influential factor for the management and planning of power systems. In this paper, a novel intelligent method is proposed to provide an accurate forecast of the medium-term and long-term wind power by using the uncertain data from an online supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system and the numerical weather prediction (NWP). This new method is based on the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm and applied to train the Type-2 fuzzy neural network (T2FNN) which is called T2FNN-PSO. The presented method combines both of fuzzy system's expert knowledge and the neural network's learning capability for accurate forecasting of the wind power. In addition, the T2FNN-PSO can appropriately handle the uncertainties associated with the measured parameters from SCADA system, the numerical weather prediction and measuring tools. The proposed method is applied on a case study of a real wind farm. The obtained simulation results validate effectiveness and applicability of the proposed method for a practical solution to an accurate wind power forecasting in a power system control center

Pastoral Traditional Ecological Knowledge Dynamicity: A Global Review

There is a significant knowledge gap concerning the extent to which pastoral traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) has changed. We conducted a systematic review of 152 papers on pastoral TEK, focusing specifically on 63 papers that explicitly mentioned types of knowledge transitions (retention, erosion, adaptation or hybridization). Studies on pastoral TEK represent less than 3% of all the scholarly literature on TEK. Geographical distribution of the case studies was largely biased. Knowledge domains of pastoral TEK such as herd and livestock management, forage and medicinal plants, and landscape and wildlife were relatively equally covered, however, climate-related knowledge was less studied. Out of the 63 papers explicitly mentioning transition of pastoral TEK, 83% reported erosion, and only 11 studies documented explicitly knowledge retention, adaptation or hybridization. We conclude that future research should focus more on the diverse dynamics of pastoral traditional knowledge, be more careful in distinguishing the four knowledge transition types

The effect of anaerobic fermentation of cow manure on culture of Rutilus frisii Kutum and comparison of survival and growth factors versus traditional feeding

Rutilus firisii kutum is one of the important fish in Caspian Sea that has significant economical role to the region. The overall objective of the project is to compare the growth and survival of Rutilus frisii Kutum larvae under conventional conditions and conditions under use of organic fertilizer by anaerobic fermentation or slurry. This study was conducted in nine 1.7 hec pounds with 3 treatments with stocking densities of 1.7 million fish larva at Dr Yousefpoor Center at Siakal Village, 32km far from city of Rasht in North of Iran. The first treatment considered as control using concentrated food and grinded kilka fish. In the second treatment, the pound was supplied only by slurry for 13 days followed by concentrated fish food. The third treatment started with slurry for 13 days followed by slurry and concentrated food together. The physical and chemical parameters of water, plankton, biometry of fish, growth indices were monitored weekly. The result indicated that production was 1.7 to 2 times higher in slurry than traditional treatment also the survival rate was 1.7 times higher in slurry treatment. Slurry with several active substances is more effective and can promote the growth of zooplanktons that is the food for larval stage of Rutilus frisi kutum. Nutritional contents of phosphorous, nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, potassium, protein and lipid after anaerobic fermentation were higher in slurry treatment than control. The blue-green algae density in slurry pounds was less than control

Investigation of production possibility of monosex female and sterile fish in rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss

This investigation carried out for the first time in Iran inorder to prodcution of monosex female and also sterilization in Rainbow trout. In this study, the eggs of general females were fertilized with the sperm of sex reversed male and so monosex female population was produced in second generation and sterilization carried out with oral administration of 17α methy 1 testosterone and immenrsion and oral administiration methods were used in embryonic stage and from commencing of acitve feeding of larvae, respectiverly. For sex reversal , 13 treatments were considered totally, that the most percentage of male (100%) was observedc in a treatment including of orally administration of 0.5 ppm hormone for 60 days after commencing active feeding (P<0.001). In the other treamtnet, different percentages of sex ratio including male, female, intersex and sterility were observed. The offspring of genral eggs fertilization with the sperm of masculinized fish were 100% female, chisquare test was shown the treatment of orally administration of 30 ppm hormone for 120 days after commencing active feeding that had been considered for sterilization, was produced 90% sterile fish (P<0.001) and was changed the sex ratio significancthy. Morphological changes of the gonads and sperm ducts in matured fish and also histological changes in the gonads of fish in the treamtints were considerable

Effect of Antioxidants on the Outcome of Therapy in Paraquat-intoxicated Patients

Purpose: The present study was conducted to determine the effect of vitamins C and E administration on the outcome of therapy in patients with paraquat intoxication admitted in the Poisoning EmergencyDepartment (PED) of Noor Teaching General Hospital, Isfahan, Iran.Methods: We studied retrospectively medical records of 186 patients admitted to the PED in two different study periods: 157 patients were evaluated from 1985 to 2001 (first study period) in which patients received conventional treatment protocol consisting of fluid replacement, oral absorbents, haemodialysis, etc, Also, 29 other patients were assessed from 2001 to 2005 (second study period) in which vitamins C and E had been administered to the patients, in addition to the conventional protocol.The patients' mortality rate after the first study period was compared to that of the second one, with regard to the impact of the additional therapeutic intervention (use of antioxidant vitamins).Results: Most of the patients (40.5 %) had ingested more than 20 mL of 20 % paraquat solution and were admitted to the hospital during the first 4 h after exposure. Paraquat poisoning was more common in men (76.6 %), young adults in the age group 19 - 34 (47 %) and during summer (43.3 %). Mean (± SE) length of hospital stay was 62.6 ± 15.6 h. Overall mortality rates were 31 and 55.2 % in the first and second periods, respectively.Conclusion: Although the addition of antioxidants (vitamins C and E) to the conventional therapy did not reduce the mortality rate, other dependent variables including different doses of antioxidants may beconsidered for future studies

Dynamic performance improvement of an ultra-lift Luo DC–DC converter by using a type-2 fuzzy neural controller

© 2018 Due to the uncertainty associated with the structure and electrical elements of DC–DC converters and the nonlinear performance of these modules, designing an effective controller is highly complicated and also technically challenging. This paper employs a new control approach based on type-2 fuzzy neural controller (T2FNC) in order to improve the dynamic response of an ultra-lift Luo DC–DC converter under different operational conditions. The proposed controller can rapidly stabilize the output voltage of converter to expected values by tuning the converter switching duty cycle. This controller can tackle the uncertainties associated with the structure of converters, measured control signals and measuring devices. Moreover, a new intelligent method based on firefly algorithm is applied to tune the parameters of T2FNC. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control approach, the proposed controller is compared to PI and fuzzy controllers under different operational conditions. Results validate efficiency of proposed T2FNC

Time-averaged heat transfer and vortex shedding of a singular and twin heated bluff bodies in cross flow

Flow characteristics in the onset of vortex shedding and heat transfer pattern over a single and two same-sized square prisms placed in tandem are studied numerically. All simulations are carried out for Reynolds numbers range varying from 1 to 200 and spacing between the prisms in the order of five widths of prism for in tandem configuration. The calculations are done employing a finite volume in-house computer program according to semi-implicit method for pressure linked equations-consistent (SIMPLEC) numerical procedure and nonstaggered mesh in 2-dimensional, steady/unsteady and incompressible flow regimes. The instantaneous and time-averaged streamlines as well as iso-therm pattern for different Reynolds numbers are analysed. Furthermore, the influence of Reynolds number and the onset of vortex shedding on the flow pattern are studied in detail. Three distinct patterns namely fully-attached, trailing-edge separation and leading-edge separation were observed