Immunization of Children in a Rural Area of North Kashmir, India: A KAP Study.

Background: Knowledge, attitude and practices about immunization among mothers of children aged 1-2 years was assessed. Method: 300 mothers were administered a semi-structured questionnaire at PHC Hajan from 1st march to 1st may 2011 to elicit the information about the knowledge, attitude and practices of the mothers regarding immunization. Results: 100% of mothers knew that vaccination is beneficial and protects their children from diseases. 39% knew OPV protects from polio while only 1% were aware of protective role of BCG. All mothers knew about immunization in pregnancy but 86% were unaware about its preventive role. 26% mothers believed that 3 doses of T.T (tetanus toxoid) are to be given during pregnancy. Whereas 98% of children were completely immunized, 93% completed on schedule. Eighty percent of mothers reported of fever following DPT. All mothers had received tetanus toxoid during pregnancy. Conclusion: Considering mothers' poor knowledge and good attitude, health education on immunization is emphasized to improve their practices

The impacts of Mnemiopsis leidyi on kilka resources in the southern Caspian Sea

There are 3 species of kilka in the Caspian Sea consist Of: Clupeonella engrauliformis, C. grimmi and C. cultriventris. These species are caught by fishing method of tunnel net with underwater light in the inshore waters (depths of 40-100m). The maximum recorded catch for three species in the Iranian waters had been 85000 tons per year during period of 1998-99. In the next years (2000-2001) despite of increasing the effort, the amount catch was dropped drastically. The result or collected commercial catch data showed that there are some changes in kilka catch compositions and also the frequency of common kilka has been increased since 1998. On the other hand, this species was a main part of commercial catch composition during all months. Meanwhile in the previous years, they were observed only during warm seasons (spring and summer). Based on fishermen and personal observations, the transparency of sea Water Was decreased rapidly during the years of 1999-2000 and at that time there were found a high abundance of Mnemiopsis leidyi in commercial catches. Simultaneously, with an increase in the mass of Mnemiopsis leidyi, the amount of catch and CPLUE or kilka have been sharply decreased

Comparative study on lipid quality of distribution and abundance of Mnemiopsis leidyi in the eastern Iranian coasts of Caspian Sea

The alien ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi which was transported from the Black Sea into the Caspian Sea at the end of 1990s has been negatively affecting ecosystem in this new environment. In this study, spatial and temporal distribution of M.leidyi were studied from a total of stations located along three transects (Amirabad, Babolsar and Nowshar) in the Eeastern Iranian coasts of the Caspian Sea (Mazandaran province) during July 2001 to November 2002. M. leidyi acheived maximum biomass 1024.5 g/m^2 in August-October 2002. Minimum biomass (1.5 g/m^2 of ctenophore were measured in December-Jaunuary 2001. The highest biomass was at the stations with 10m bottom depth (570.7 g/m^2 in autumn and lowest biomass (75.9 g/m^2) was obtained at a station with a 50 m bottom depth in winter. The highest average biomass (641.2 g/m^2) were measured in ~irabad region and the lowest biomass (207.5 g/m^2) observed in Nowshar region. The young specimens (<5 mm) contributed about 90% to the total abundance of the population. The maximum length was 51-55mm which was measured in August. The factors affecting the distribution of M. leidyi in the study area were discussed

The diet of big-scale sand smelt Atherina boyeri caspia (Risso, 1810) in the southeastern coast of the Caspian Sea

Big-scale sand smelt is one of the fishes with high ecological value, which consume by fishes such as sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. In this study, 191 samples of Big-scale sand smelt from southeast coast of the Caspian Sea were collected seasonally from December 2013 to September 2014. In the present study, food items and the relative index of gastrointestinal (RLG), stomach emptiness index (VI) and feeding intensity (IF) were determined. The fork length, weight and age (mean ±SD) were 7.70 ± 1.09 cm, 3.64 ± 1.49 g and 2.00 ± 0.81 year, respectively. This fish with a relative gastrointestinal tract length of 0.46 ± 0.06 (mean ± Standard Deviation) can be considered as a carnivorous fish. The average of empty stomach was 45% showing big-scale sand smelt is a relatively voracious feeder. The average intensity of feeding (mean± Standard Deviation) 535±221.21, as a moderate level for this fish in the region. Gammarus (benthos) and Daphnia (zooplankton) were the favored food for this fish. This study also showed opportunistic hunting activities of this fish

The study of reproduction, fecundity and diet in 3 species of kilka in the southern part of the Caspian Sea (Bobolsar Region)

Considering the large population of kilka in the Caspian Sea and their role in the survival of ecosystem, it is important to know their biological characteristics as a basic information in the fisheries research activities. The project was conducted to evaluate the biological characteristic of these fishes including: reproduction and fecundity rate, relative frequency percentage, age and weight composition and diet. 1000 fish samples from three different species of Clupeidae 1 - Clupeonella cultriventris (common kilka) 2 - Clupeonella engrauliformis (anchovy) 3 - Clupeonella grimmi (big eye kilka) were studied from November 1993 to November 1994. The study indicates that C. cultriventris starts its spawning in the beginning of spring, C. engrauliformis spawns in the middle of summer and C grimmi has a longer spawning period (once starts in the beginning of autumn and the second period starts at the end of winter). Anchovy has the most relative frequency, the average of absolute fecundity for anchovy and big eye kilka are 32847 ± 10150 and 17892 ± 3916, respectively

Short communication: Study on heavy metals (Chromium, Cadmium, Cobalt and Lead) concentration in three pelagic species of kilka (Genus Clupeonella) in the southern Caspian Sea

Environmental pollution by heavy metals has been a matter of growing concern over the last decades. Heavy metals are toxic and tend to accumulate in living organisms. In many studies, fish has been used as a sampling item to monitor the quality of ecosystems because of two reasons: 1- Fish bio-concentrate and integrate contaminant load both in time and space leading to more representative results compared to water samples, and 2- Fish represent the bio-available fraction of environmental contaminants, unlike water and sediment samples. On the other hand, humans consume fish species which makes attention to these fauna even more important. Levels of some metals in the water running in Volga River, towards the Caspian Sea, and elevated concentrations of some trace elements have been reported in sediment. Also, various pollutants have accumulated in the Caspian Sea due to effluents from coastal catchments and leakage from offshore oil production and land-based sources. ... The objective of the present study was to investigate the concentrations of chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co) and lead (Pb) in fish muscle in the most commercially important fish species of kilka (common kilka, C. cultriventris, anchovy C. engrauliformis and bigeye kilka C. grimmi) in the Caspian Sea

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Semiflexible Polyampholyte Brushes - The Effect of Charged Monomers Sequence

Planar brushes formed by end-grafted semiflexible polyampholyte chains, each chain containing equal number of positively and negatively charged monomers is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. Keeping the length of the chains fixed, dependence of the average brush thickness and equilibrium statistics of the brush conformations on the grafting density and the salt concentration are obtained with various sequences of charged monomers. When similarly charged monomers of the chains are arranged in longer blocks, the average brush thickness is smaller and dependence of brush properties on the grafting density and the salt concentration is stronger. With such long blocks of similarly charged monomers, the anchored chains bond to each other in the vicinity of the grafting surface at low grafting densities and buckle toward the grafting surface at high grafting densities.Comment: 8 pages,7 figure

Investigation of the Effect of Modeling of Control Tunnel in Retaining Structure of J2 Station of Mashhad Metro Using Plaxis 2D

Nowadays using of underground concrete arch excavation method is very common for execution of retaining structures (soldier structure) of deep and semi deep metro stations all around the world. In this method executer can use retaining structure as a part of main structure of station in next construction steps with using of piles of retaining structure as a part of main structure\u27s wall. One of the first steps in building retaining structure of metro station is control tunnel (patrol tunnel) that usually is a prefabricated controlling tunnel in the middle of retaining structure. This tunnel is used for digging bores for concrete piles and arches of retaining structure and will be removed at the end of excavation process. Usually designers don\u27t consider this tunnel in modeling of whole retaining structures in numerical modeling in computer programs like PLAXIS. We have done 2 different modeling of retaining structure of J2 station in Mashhad metro (with and without control tunnel) for considering of the impact of modeling of control tunnel on stresses, deflections, axial forces, bending moments, etc of the model using PLAXIS 8.5 2D. Results and differences between these two kinds of modeling showed that neglecting the patrol tunnel in analyses can cause important reductions in forces and moments of piles and ribs of the retaining structure

Qualitative assessment of Caspian kutum (Rutilus frisii kutum Kamensky 1901) stocks in Iranian waters of the Caspian Sea (1991-2011)

The main objective of the present study was qualitative assessment of Caspian kutum (Rutilus frisii kutum Kamensky 1901) stocks by using indicators of overfishing, condition factor and relative weight in Iranian waters of the Caspian Sea during a long period (1991- 2011). Three fisheries indicators in catch were: 1) percentage of mature fish, with 100% as target; 2) percent of specimens with optimum length, with 100% as target; and 3) percentage of mega-spawners, with 0% as target, and if no upper size limit exists, 30-40% as representative of reasonable stock structure. Over this period, the condition factor and relative weight had a decreasing trend. The range of length with optimum yield was between 40 and 48 cm. The mega-spawner measured as fish a size larger than 48 cm. According to these three indicators, the percentage of mature (fork length>40cm), optimum size and mega-spawners were 62.0, 40.9 and 12.5% in 1991-92 which decreased less than 50, 38.2 and 8%, in the years 1992-2011, respectively. The length structure is a matter of concern. Therefore, for reservation and rebuilt of kutum in the Caspian Sea, the target was to let all (100%) fish spawn at least once, using bigger mesh size in cod end (e.g. 35mm, during whole fishing season). The aim was also to implement a fishing strategy that result no (0%) mega-spawners being caught, and the main catch focus on optimum length