Risks of Solely Relying on VS30 in Ground Motion Response Studies

The average shear wave velocity of the uppermost 30 m of earth (Vs30) is widely used in seismic geotechnical engineering and soil-structure interaction studies. In this regard, any given subsurface profile is assigned to a specific site class according to its average shear wave velocity. However, in a real-world scenario, entirely different velocity models could be considered in the same class type due to their identical average velocities. The objective of the present study is to underline some of the risks associated with solely using Vs30 as a classification tool. To do so, three imaginary soil profiles that are quite different in nature, but all with the same average Vs were considered and were subjected to the same earthquake excitation. Seismic records acquired at the ground surface demonstrated that the three sites have different ground motion amplifications. Then, the different ground responses were used to excite a five-story structure. Results confirmed that even sites from the same class can indeed exhibit different responses under identical seismic excitations. Our results demonstrated that caution should be practiced when large-contrast velocity models are involved as such profiles are prone to pronounced ground motion amplification. This study, which serves as link between soil dynamics and structural dynamics, warns practitioners about the risks associated with oversimplifying the subsurface profile. Such oversimplifications can potentially undermine the safety of existing or future structures

The Effect of Fast, Light and Favorite Music on Physiological Function and Physical Performance of the Male Athlete Students

Listening to music can be useful for athletic performance because of the similarities between the rhythm of the music and the movements of the human body. Given the ambiguity in the lead for better music, the goal of this study was to investigate the effect of fast, light and favorite music on physiological function and physical performance of the male athlete students. 25 healthy male athlete students with the age of 20.8 ±1.20 years, height of 180.5 ±7.02 cm and weight of 70.8 ±10.9 kg participated in this study voluntarily. The present study was a repeated based test (4 times without music, fast, light and favorite music in 4 consecutive weeks with a one week rest apart them to control the effects of fatigue during the test). Results showed that fast music caused a significant changes in anaerobic power, sprint, agility, muscular endurance, aerobic power, rating of perceived exertion (RPE) (p < 0.05). Also, favorite music caused significant changes in explosive power and agility (p < 0.05). But, light music just made significant effect on minimum power (p < 0.05). According to this study, it seems that listening to fast music before aerobic and anaerobic activities can be effective on maximum and submaximal functions

The Effect of Magnesium Sulfate on Pain Intensity and Menstrual Blood Loss in Students With Primary Dysmenorrhea: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: No evidence exists for the lowest effective dose of magnesium on menstrual pain. Objective: To determine and compare the effects of two different doses of magnesium on pain intensity and menstrual blood loss in students with primary dysmenorrhea. Methods: Sixty dysmenorrhea patients were randomly assigned to one of two therapeutic groups and one placebo group (receiving one tablet a day of 300 or 150 mg magnesium sulphate or placebo from the 15th cycle day until no pain existed on the following cycle). Visual analogue scale (VAS) and Hjgham collected data for two cycles before and two cycles after the intervention. The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and ANCOVA tests. Findings: No significant difference was observed between the groups in terms of baseline characteristics. Both intervention groups outperformed the placebo group in terms of pain intensity (adjusted differences of -2.9, 95% confidence intervals of -3.3 to -2.4 and -1.9, -2.4 to -1.5, respectively) and menstrual bleeding (-20.0, -26.0 to -14.0, and -13.0, -19.0 to -7.0, respectively), as well as the secondary outcome, i.e. rest duration and ibuprofen consumption. In terms of pain alleviation and menstrual bleeding, participants in the 300 mg magnesium group outperformed those in the 150 mg magnesium group. No significant difference was observed between intervention groups regarding secondary outcomes. Conclusion: Both magnesium levels are useful in alleviating pain and reducing menstrual bleeding, although 300 mg of magnesium was more effective

Familial genetic and environmental risk profile and high blood pressure event: a prospective cohort of cardio-metabolic and genetic study

Background and aims High blood pressure is the heritable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. We investigated whether the presence of familial genetic and environmental risk factors are associated with increased risk of high blood pressure. Methods A total of 4,559 individuals from 401 families were included in this study. Familial aggregation analysis was carried out on systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC), and heritability was estimated for SBP and DBP. The association between familial risk factors and blood pressure traits including, incidence of hypertension, SBP and DBP was estimated separately using regression-based two-level Haseman-Elston (HE) method, with individual and familial BMI and WC as environmental exposures and familial genetic profile of known variants as genetic risk factors in 210 index families (≥2 hypertensive cases). Models were adjusted for the two nested sets of covariates. Results During a follow-up of 15 years, the SBP, DBP, BMI and WC were highly correlated in inter class of mother-offspring and intraclass of sister-sister with heritability of 30 and 25% for DBP and SBP, respectively. Among index families, those whose members with higher familial BMI or WC had significantly increased risk of hypertension and consistent, strong signals of rs2493134 (AGT) linked with SBP and DBP, rs976683 (NLGN1) linked with SBP and HTN, and epistasis of rs2021783 (TNXB) and known genetic variants linked with all blood pressure traits. Conclusions Findings from this study show that familial genetic and environmental risk profile increase risk for high blood pressure beyond the effect of the individuals’ own risk factors