The effect of Toxoplasma gondii infection in women on some biochemical and hormonal parameters in Duhok province, Iraq

Background: Toxoplasma gondii is protozoal parasite that cause Toxoplasmosis, which is an important protozoal disease that infect more around billion people globally. Toxoplasmosis transmitted by two way in human; the horizontal transmission by accidental and ingestion of oocysts of Toxoplasma gondii through contaminated water or food, and the second rout is vertical transmission by placenta from mother to the baby. The aim of the current study was to detect the effect of toxoplasmosis on kidney function, liver function enzymes and gonadotropin hormones like follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and Luteinizing hormone (LH).Methods: A total of 101 (71 samples and 30 controls) of blood samples were collected from women, which were tested for seropositivity against anti-toxoplasma antibodies like immunoglobulin G (IgG), immunoglobulin M (IgM) by ELISA. After that the biochemical test (alanine aminotransferase-ALT, Aspartate transaminase-AST, Alkaline phosphatase-ALP, Urea and Creatinine) and hormonal assay (LH and FSH) and achieved for all samples.Results: Results revealed a slight increase in the level of both urea and creatinine in infected women compared with the control group. A Pearson’s Coefficient Correlation test was used to examine the positive correlations between ALT and Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), LH and FSH at p value (<0.001 for both). Preliminary studies indicate that the level of LH and FSH in infected women is lower compared to control healthy group. Finally, current study indicated that toxoplasmosis is effect on the levels of studied biochemical and hormonal parameters.Conclusions: Current study shows a significant increase in the levels of biochemical and hormonal parameters in women infected with toxoplasmosis

A Non-Cooperative Power Control Game for Multi-Carrier CDMA Systems

In this work, a non-cooperative power control game for multi-carrier CDMA systems is proposed. In the proposed game, each user needs to decide how much power to transmit over each carrier to maximize its overall utility. The utility function considered here measures the number of reliable bits transmitted per joule of energy consumed. It is shown that the user's utility is maximized when the user transmits only on the carrier with the best "effective channel". The existence and uniqueness of Nash equilibrium for the proposed game are investigated and the properties of equilibrium are studied. Also, an iterative and distributed algorithm for reaching the equilibrium (if it exists) is presented. It is shown that the proposed approach results in a significant improvement in the total utility achieved at equilibrium compared to the case in which each user maximizes its utility over each carrier independently.Comment: To appear in Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference, New Orleans, LA, March 13 - 17, 200

Equivalence of a one-dimensional driven-diffusive system and an equilibrium two-dimensional walk model

It is known that a single product shock measure in some of one-dimensional driven-diffusive systems with nearest-neighbor interactions might evolve in time quite similar to a random walker moving on a one-dimensional lattice with reflecting boundaries. The non-equilibrium steady-state of the system in this case can be written in terms of a linear superposition of such uncorrelated shocks. Equivalently, one can write the steady-state of this system using a matrix-product approach with two-dimensional matrices. In this paper we introduce an equilibrium two-dimensional one-transit walk model and find its partition function using a transfer matrix method. We will show that there is a direct connection between the partition functions of these two systems. We will explicitly show that in the steady-state the transfer matrix of the one-transit walk model is related to the matrix representation of the algebra of the driven-diffusive model through a similarity transformation. The physical quantities are also related through the same transformation.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, Revte

Numerical modelling of masonry-infilled reinforced concrete frames : model calibration and parametric study

Generally two methods are proposed for analyzing the infilled frames; Micro modelling approach which finite element method is used to take into account local effects in detail and Macro modelling approach which is a very simplified method that takes into account the global behavior of the structure by replacing the infill with diagonal strut. In the present study a numerical analysis is carried out on a one bay one storey reinforced concrete frame with masonry infill under in-plane loading by using finite element modelling through the DIANA software. The numerical model was calibrated based on experimental results and then a parametric study was carried out, taking into account variation of material properties of infill and its height to length ratio. It is concluded that compressive strength and height to length ratio of the masonry infill has dominant role on the in-plane behavior of these types of masonry infilled frames. Increasing the compressive strength of the masonry enhances the lateral strength of the infilled frames while increasing the height to length ratio of the infill panel results in decrease of their lateral strength and initial stiffness.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Use of in vitro gas production technique to evaluate the effects of microwave irradiation on sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and wheat (Triticum sp.) nutritive values and fermentation characteristics

Effects of microwave irradiation (900 W) for 3, 5 and 7 min on the nutritive value of sorghum and wheat grains were evaluated by in vitro gas production technique. Gas volume was recorded at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24, 36, 48, 72 and 96 h of incubation and kinetics of gas production were estimated using model: GP = A exp {– exp [1 + (be/A) (LAG – t)]}. Cumulative gas production at 24 h was used for estimation of metabolizable energy, net energy for lactation, short chain fatty acids, digestible organic matter and microbial protein. For sorghum grain, microwave irradiation increased cumulative gas production for most times of incubation linearly. Microwave treatments for 5 and 7 min increased the A fraction linearly in both cereal grain, whereas the maximum rate of gas production (b) decreased linearly only in wheat grain. Microwave treatments for 3, 5 and 7 min increased (P<0.05) metabolizable energy, net energy for lactation and short chain fatty acids content of sorghum grain, but not of wheat grain. It was concluded that microwave irradiation changed the gas production parameters resulting changed ruminal fermentation characteristics that can be considered in ration formulation

In-plane strengthening of masonry infills using TRM technique

The seismic vulnerability of masonry infills during seismic actions in southern Europe highlighted their urgent need to be studied deeply. Therefore, the main objects of this research are 1) understanding the in-plane behavior of typical south European infilled frames and 2) Providing strengthening technique based on textile reinforced mortar (TRM) technique. To reach the objectives of this study, seven reduced scale specimens were constructed by simulating the same specimens of south European specimens in 1980's. The effect of different parameters was investigated namely; 1) effect of using low strength infills inside bare frame 2) effect of workmanship 3) effect of strengthening technique Two of them were strengthened by using TRM technique (one were strengthened by using commercial textile mesh and another specimen were strengthened by using the textile meshes that were manufactured in the university. Those specimens were tested under in-plane static cyclic loading to simulate the effect of earthquakes. The loading protocol complies with the guidelines of FEMA 461 [1]

Exact Solution of an Exclusion Model in the Presence of a moving Impurity

We study a recently introduced model which consists of positive and negative particles on a ring. The positive (negative) particles hop clockwise (counter-clockwise) with rate 1 and oppositely charged particles may swap their positions with asymmetric rates q and 1. In this paper we assume that a finite density of positively charged particles $\rho$ and only one negative particle (which plays the role of an impurity) exist on the ring. It turns out that the canonical partition function of this model can be calculated exactly using Matrix Product Ansatz (MPA) formalism. In the limit of infinite system size and infinite number of positive particles, we can also derive exact expressions for the speed of the positive and negative particles which show a second order phase transition at $q_c=2\rho$. The density profile of the positive particles on the ring has a shock structure for $q \leq q_c$ and an exponential behaviour with correlation length $\xi$ for $q \geq q_c$. It will be shown that the mean-field results become exact at q=3 and no phase transition occurs for q>2.Comment: 9 pages,4 EPS figures. To be appear in JP

An Overview of Ares-I CFD Ascent Aerodynamic Data Development And Analysis Based on USM3D

An overview of the computational results obtained from the NASA Langley developed unstructured grid, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes flow solver USM3D, in support of the Ares-I project within the NASA s Constellation program, are presented. The numerical data are obtained for representative flow conditions pertinent to the ascent phase of the trajectory at both wind tunnel and flight Reynolds number without including any propulsion effects. The USM3D flow solver has been designated to have the primary role within the Ares-I project in developing the computational aerodynamic data for the vehicle while other flow solvers, namely OVERFLOW and FUN3D, have supporting roles to provide complementary results for fewer cases as part of the verification process to ensure code-to-code solution consistency. Similarly, as part of the solution validation efforts, the predicted numerical results are correlated with the aerodynamic wind tunnel data that have been generated within the project in the past few years. Sample aerodynamic results and the processes established for the computational solution/data development for the evolving Ares-I design cycles are presented