Optimal design of water recovery network with improved operability

A suitable water network for any water using process can help reduce the amount of fresh water usage. many researchers have investigated water recovery network for multiple contaminants using mathematical programming. however, operability problems and complex network design have made the actual implementation of the design impractical. in this research, a minlp mathematical model to design new water recovery network with improved operability is presented. the method considers tanks for intermittent streams based on capacity, omitting small flow rates, preferring more economical streams for cost minimization purposes piping reduction. the approach has been successfully implemented for both industrial and urban cases. ccm chemicals has been chosen for industrial case study and sultan ismail mosque in utm as an urban case study. the result shows 17.6% saving on freshwater usage and 53.8% reduction of wastewater generation in ccm chemicals, giving an approximate saving of rm 34,942 per year on freshwater consumption. moreover, 3 tanks have been considered in water system and 18 reuse streams have been removed for simplification of water network. this resulted in reduction of piping requirement for water reuse. for sim case study, freshwater consumption is reduced by 14.56% wastewater generation is reduced by 22.9%. it gives a monetary saving of rm 1,250 per year on freshwater cost. in addition, 2 tanks for intermittent streams are considered and 3 small streams are deleted from the water network. this elimination caused reduction of piping requirement for water network

Multiple Arrhythmogenic Substrate for Tachycardia in a Patient with Frequent Palpitations

We report a 26-year-old woman with frequent episodes of palpitation and dizziness. Resting electrocardiography showed no evidence of ventricular preexcitation. During electrophysiologic study, a concealed right posteroseptal accessory pathway was detected and orthodromic atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia incorporating this pathway as a retrograde limb was reproducibly induced. After successful ablation of right posteroseptal accessory pathway, another tachycardia was induced using a concealed right posterolateral accessory pathway in tachycardia circuit. After loss of retrograde conduction of second accessory pathway with radiofrequency ablation, dual atrioventricular nodal physiology was detected and typical atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia was repeatedly induced. Slow pathway ablation was done successfully. Finally sustained self-terminating atrial tachycardia was induced under isoproterenol infusion but no attempt was made for ablation. During 8-month follow-up, no recurrence of symptoms attributable to tachycardia was observed

The effect of regular resistance exercise, vitamin D, and calcium supplements on the gastrocnemius muscle in rats in the post-menopausal period: An experimental study

Background: Menopause is the natural termination of menstruation which affects the quality and important aspects of women’s life. Objective: To evaluate the effect of regular resistance training (Ex) with vitamin D (Vit. D) and calcium (Ca) supplements in the postmenopausal period on muscle tissue in rats. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 72 female Wistar rats (8-10-wk old) were randomly divided into control, placebo, Vit. D, Ca, Ex, Ca + Vit. D, Ex + Ca, Ex + Vit. D, and Ex + Ca + Vit. D groups. Control and placebo groups were fed with a standard diet and sesame oil, respectively. Two months after the ovariectomy, Ex, Ca (35 mg/kg), and Vit. D (10000 IU) were administered in all groups except the control. The number of muscle and inflammatory cells, fiber diameter, endomysium thickness, and degenerative collagen fiber area were assessed through hematoxylin-eosin staining. Results: Muscle cell number was increased in the Ex + Vit. D + Ca, Vit. D + Ex, and Vit. D groups compared to the control group; also, inflammatory cell number showed significant increase in the Ex + Vit. D + Ca (12 ± 5.46), Vit. D + Ex (14 ± 3.25), Ex (13 ± 4.08), Vit. D (11 ± 3.26), Ca + Vit. D (10 ± 1.01), and Ca + Ex (9 ± 2.87) groups. Muscle fiber diameter in the Ex + Vit. D + Ca and Vit. D + Ex groups was higher than the other groups. Endomysium thickness was significantly decreased in the Ex + Vit. D + Ca and Vit. D + Ex groups compared to the control and placebo groups (p < 0.001). Degenerative collagen fiber area showed a significant increase in the Ex + Vit. D + Ca and Vit. D + Ex groups (p ≤ 0.001) comparison with the control group. Conclusion: Regular resistance exercise, Vit. D, and Ca supplements can improve muscle morphological features in the postmenopausal period. Key words: Menopause, Muscle, Vitamin D, Calcium, Exercise

Coexistence of Atrioventricular Nodal Reentrant Tachycardia and Idiopathic Left Ventricular Outflow-Tract Tachycardia

Double tachycardia is a relatively rare condition. We describe a 21 year old woman with history of frequent palpitations. In one of these episodes, she had wide complex tachycardia with right bundle branch and inferior axis morphology. A typical atrioventricular nodal tachycardia was induced during electrophysiologic study, aimed at induction of clinically documented tachycardia. Initially no ventricular tachycardia was inducible. After successful ablation of slow pathway, a wide complex tachycardia was induced by programmed stimulation from right ventricular outflow tract. Mapping localized the focus of tachycardia in left ventricular outflow tract and successfully ablated via retrograde aortic approach. During 7 month's follow-up, she has been symptom free with no recurrence. This work describes successful ablation of rare combination of typical atrioventricular nodal tachycardia and left ventricular outflow tract tachycardia in the same patient during one session

Application of artificial intelligence techniques for predicting the flyrock, Sungun mine, Iran

Flyrock is known as one of the main problems in open pit mining operations. This phenomenon can threaten the safety of mine personnel, equipment and buildings around the mine area. One way to reduce the risk of accidents due to flyrock is to accurately predict that the safe area can be identified and also with proper design of the explosion pattern, the amount of flyrock can be greatly reduced. For this purpose, 14 effective parameters on flyrock have been selected in this paper i.e. burden, blasthole diameter, sub-drilling, number of blastholes, spacing, total length, amount of explosives and a number of other effective parameters, predicting the amount of flyrock in a case study, Songun mine, using linear multivariate regression (LMR) and artificial intelligence algorithms such as Gray Wolf Optimization algorithm (GWO), Moth-Flame Optimization algorithm (MFO), Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA), Ant Lion Optimizer (ALO) and Multi-Verse Optimizer (MVO). Results showed that intelligent algorithms have better capabilities than linear regression method and finally method MVO showed the best performance for predicting flyrock. Moreover, the results of the sensitivity analysis show that the burden, ANFO, total rock blasted, total length and blast hole diameter are the most significant factors to determine flyrock, respectively, while dynamite has the lowest impact on flyrock generation.Peer ReviewedObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::9 - Indústria, Innovació i InfraestructuraPostprint (published version

Effect of Concept Mapping Education on Critical Thinking Skills of Medical Students: A Quasi-experimental Study

BACKGROUND፡ Fostering critical thinking (CT) is one of the most important missions in medical education. Concept mapping is a method used to plan and create medical care through a diagrammatic representation of patient problems and medical interventions. Concept mapping as a general method can be used to improve CT skills in medical students. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of concept mapping on CT skills of medical students.METHODS: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 100 second-year medical students which take an anatomy course. Participants were randomly assigned into a control group (lecture-based) and an intervention group (concept mapping). CT levels of medical students were assessed using the California Critical Thinking Skills Test. Data were analyzed using independent sample t-test.RESULTS: Before intervention, CT scores of the intervention and control groups were 6.68 ± 2.55 and 6.64±2.74, respectively, and after intervention, they were 11.64±2.29 and 10.04 ± 3.11, respectively. Comparison of mean score differences for both groups before and after intervention demonstrated that CT scores in the experimental group significantly increased after intervention (P=0.021).CONCLUSIONS: Medical students who were taught through concept mapping showed an increase in CT scores, compared with those in the control group. Medical students require effective CT skills in order to make sound knowledge-based assessment and treatment choices during patient care. Therefore, instructors and planners of medical education are expected to apply this educational strategy for developing CT skills in medical students

Bilateral Angle-Closure Glaucoma in a Young Female Receiving Cabergoline: A Case Report

Purpose: To report a case of bilateral acute angle-closure glaucoma after oral administration of cabergoline for the treatment of galactorrhea. Methods: A diagnosis of secondary drug-induced angle-closure glaucoma was made in a patient with elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) and myopic refractive shift, which was confirmed by ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) of the ciliary body and anterior segment, sonography, and optical coherence tomography. The treatment included the discontinuation of the culprit drug and the administration of topical anti-glaucoma drops. The treatment course was followed with serial measurements of the IOP and refraction, and with performing UBM. Results: Five hours after he received a single 0.5-mg oral cabergoline tablet, the patient suffered from acute secondary angle-closure glaucoma and myopic refractive error. UBM demonstrated both effusion of the ciliary body and an anterior rotation of the iris-ciliary body. IOP was reduced 8 h after cessation of the causative agent and administration of anti-glaucoma drops. Refractive errors returned to normal levels after 8 days. Conclusion: Secondary acute angle-closure glaucoma has been reported to occur after the administration of some drugs. In this report, an attempt has been made to describe this adverse reaction after oral cabergoline intake

Is there any relationship between mutation in CPS1 Gene and pregnancy loss?

Background: Carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1) is a liver-specific enzyme with the lowest enzymatic rate, which determines the overall rate of the other reactions in the pathway that converts ammonia to carbamoyl phosphate in the first step of the urea cycle. Carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 deficiency (CPS1D), which usually presents as lethal hyperammonemia, is a rare autosomal recessive hereditary disease. Case: We report a case of a two-day-old female neonate with lethal hyperammonemia. The newborn infant was presented with hyperammonemia (34.7 μg/ml; reference range 1.1–1.9). In Plasma amino acid analysis, there was a significant elevated levels of alanine (3,004 μmol/L; reference range, 236–410 μmol/L), glutamine (2,256 μmol/L; reference range, 20–107 μmol/L), asparagine (126 μmol/L; reference range, 30–69 μmol/L), glutamic acid (356 μmol/L; reference range, 14–192 μmol/L), aspartic acid (123 μmol/L; reference range, 0–24 μmol/L), and lysine (342 μmol/L; reference range, 114–269 μmol/L). We cannot diagnose the urea cycle disorder (UCD) CPS1D properly only based on the quantity of biochemical intermediary metabolites to exclude other UCDs with similar symptoms. Following next generation sequencing determined one homozygous mutation in CPS1 gene and also this mutation was determined in her parents. The identified mutation was c.2758G > C; p.Asp920His, in the 23 exon of CPS1. This novel homozygous mutation had not been reported previously. Conclusion: We applied whole exome sequencing successfully to diagnose the patient with CPS1D in a clinical setting. This result supports the clinical applicability of whole exome sequencing for cost-effective molecular diagnosis of UCDs

Association study of ESR1 rs9340799, rs2234693, and MMP2 rs243865 variants in Iranian women with premature ovarian insufficiency: A case-control study

Background: Primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) is a rare disease clinically characterized by ovarian follicles depletion or dysfunction and menopause before the age of 40 yr as the cut-off age for POI. It is a complex disease, and its etiology involves several factors. However, genetic factors have a predominant role in the susceptibility to the disease. Objective: This study aims to investigate the polymorphisms of rs243865 in the matrix metallopeptidase 2 (MMP2) gene and rs2234693 and rs9340799 in the estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) gene with susceptibility to POI in Iranian women under 35 yr. Materials and Methods: This case-control study was performed on 150 women with POI and 150 healthy women who were referred to Yazd Reproductive Sciences Institute, Yazd, Iran between May-October 2020. The genotyping of ESR1 rs9340799, rs2234693, and MMP2 rs243865 polymorphism was done using tetra-amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction. In addition, haplotype analysis and linkage disequilibrium were investigated by SNPanalyzer software. Results: Our study revealed the frequency of rs243865 TT, CC genotypes in the MMP2 gene and rs2234693 CC, TT; and rs9340799 GG, AA in the ESR1 gene were more prevalent in the case group compared to the control group. In addition, ESR1 rs2234693 and rs9340799 genotypes showed significant association with the development of the disease in our population. Among 4 haplotypes for 2 polymorphisms in the ESR1 gene, rs2234693T/rs9340799A haplotype was associated with conferring risk to POI. Conclusion: ESR1 rs2234693 and rs9340799 polymorphism were strongly associated with our population’s POI. Key words: Matrix metalloproteinase-2, Estrogen receptor alpha, Primary ovarian insufficiency, Female infertility