Magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the frontal region in patients with metabolic syndrome : correlation with anthropometric measurement

Purpose: to demonstrate 1H-MR spectroscopy of the frontal region in patients with metabolic syndrome and to correlate the metabolic ratios with anthropometric measurement. Material and methods: A prospective study was conducted upon 20 patients with metabolic syndrome (10 male, 10 female; mean age 52 years) and 20 age- and sex-matched volunteers. Patients were mild-moderate (n = 14) and marked and morbid obesity (n = 6). Patients and volunteers underwent 1H-MR spectroscopy of the frontal region. The Ch/Cr and NAA/Cr ratio were calculated and correlated with anthropometric measurement. Results: The Cho/Cr and NAA/Cr of patients with Mets (1.03 ± 0.08 and 1.62 ± 0.08) were significantly different (p = 0.001) to those of volunteers (0.78 ± 0 and 1.71 ± 0.61, respectively). The Cho/Cr and NAA/Cr cutoffs used to differentiate patients from volunteers were 0.89 and 1.77 with areas under the curve of 0.992 and 0.867 and accuracy of 97% and 93%, respectively. There was a significant difference in Cho/Cr and NAA/Cr between patients with marked-morbid obesity and moderate-mild obesity (p = 0.001 respectively). Conclusions: We concluded that NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr ratios of the frontal region can differentiate patients with metabolic syndrome from volunteers and are well correlated with the anthropometric measurement

Sampled Fiber Bragg Grating spectral synthesis

In this paper, a technique to estimate the deformation profile of a Sampled Fiber Bragg Grating (SFBG) is proposed and experimentally verified. From the SFBG intensity reflection spectrum, any arbitrary longitudinal axis deformation profile applied to a SFBG is estimated. The synthesis algorithm combines a custom defined error metric to compare the measured and the synthetic spectra and the Particle Swarm Optimization technique to get the deformation profile. Using controlled deformation profiles, the proposed method has been successfully checked by means of simulated and experimental tests. The results obtained under different controlled cases show a remarkable repetitiveness (< 50 με) and good spatial accuracy (< 1 mm).This work has been supported by the project TEC2010-20224-C02-02 and grant AP2009-1403

Deiksis dalam Film Bumi dan Manusia Karya Hanung Bramantyo

Deixis is a pragmatic study that examines the relationship between the structure of language and the environment in which the language is used. The phenomenon of deixis or use is most often seen in everyday conversation in the form of verbal language. Deixis is also found in the conversation of characters or figures in literary works such as films. The study entitled "Deixis in the Film Bumi dan Manusia by Hanung Bramantyo" examines the use of deixis in the film directed by Hanung Bramantyo with the title "Earth and Man". Persona, time, place, social, and discourse deixis are the five categories of deixis studied in this study. Researchers used analytical methods in the form of pragmatics with qualitative techniques to analyze the data that had been collected. The data used in this study include fragments of speech from film conversations, both words and phrases containing deixis, including personal deixis, time deixis, location deixis, social deixis, and discourse deixis. Watching movies, capturing data, recognizing, categorizing, analyzing, formulating, and presenting data are the stages of analyzing in this research. Data analysis illustrates that the film directed by Hanung Bramantyo with the title "Bumi dan Manusia" has a deixis in the form of person, time, place, social, and discourse

Facile synthesis of a novel nanocomposite for determination of mercury and copper ions in food and water samples

This paper describes the modification of sodium aluminum silicate hydrate by 3-bromo-5-chlorosalicylaldehyde to form a new composite. Furthermore, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), CHN elemental analysis, Nitrogen gas sorption analyzer, and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) tools were used for characterizing the synthesized composite. The XRD pattern of the synthesized composite shows a halo at 2Θ = 25°, confirming the destruction of the crystalline structure of the nanomaterial owing to the association with an organic substance. The synthesized composite was utilized for the removal and preconcentration of mercury and copper ions from water and food samples. The maximum adsorption capacity of the synthesized composite towards mercury and copper ions is 107.53 and 130.89 mg/g, respectively. In addition, the relative standard deviation was less than 3 %, showing excellent reproducibility. The dynamic analytical ranges are 0.8–380 μg/L and 1.00–550 μg/L for copper and mercury ions, respectively. The preconcentration factor is 10

Lead and Cadmium Toxicity in Tile Manufacturing Workers in Assiut, Egypt

Occupational lead and cadmium exposure are important health issues in developing countries. This study aimed to detect toxic metal contents in raw materials used to make tiles and to assess exposure health impacts on workers. The study sample consisted of 74 tile workers, having a mean age of 35.2 years, in the Industrial City of Arab El Awamer, Assiut (Egypt). Elemental analysis of the raw materials was performed by using scanning electron microscopy. The data collection questionnaire was divided into two parts; the first included demographic data, symptoms attributed to toxic elements and possible sources of exposure to metals. The second part was designated to assess heavy metal exposure health impacts through clinical examination and biological  investigations. Many toxic elements were identified in the raw materials used to make tiles, and the most abundant were lead and cadmium. Analysis of the clinical data revealed that 66% of the workers suffered from headache, constipation (8%), abdominal colic (33.8%) and 30% suffered from a variety of respiratory problems such as dyspnea (60%), cough (13%) and chest tightness (27%). Fifty percent of the workers complained of weak grip, 33.8% of foot drop, and 54% had tremors. Burton’s line in gums was present in 28% of workers and 28.2% were diagnosed with constrictive lung diseases. Of the 74 workers, 90.5 % showed toxic lead levels and 80% had toxic cadmium levels. 10.8% had abnormal alpha glutathione levels with a positive strong linear correlation between lead and cadmium levels and years of work. It is mandatory to develop and implement measures to prevent these hazardous exposure effects among tile industry workers