INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHASE ANGLE AND MICRO-ALBUMINURIA IN TYPE 2 DIABETIC PATIENTS WITH A HISTORY OF MORE THAN 5 YEARS OF THE DISEASE IN ILAM PROVINCE, IRAN

Introduction: Phase angle is the ratio between cell mass and fat-free tissue and a cell health indicator which is measurable through bio-impedance analysis with 50 KHZ alternating current and can be interpreted as a voltage and a wave-form current. Diabetes mellitus contains a group of metabolic disorders that are in common in terms of appearance characteristic of hyperglycemia. Micro-albuminuria of urine albumin amounts 30-300mg/24h and the higher values are for diagnostic diabetic nephropathy. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between Phase angle and micro-albuminuria in type 2 diabetic patients with a history of more than 5 years of the disease in the city of Ilam. Materials and methods: This is an analytical-practical case-control study and statistical society includes two case and control groups with an average age 52.06 +/- 6.69 years in case group and 50.02 +/- 5.42 years in the control group. The sample size in each group has been designated equal to 50 and data analysis is performed using SPSS and parametric and Non-parametric statistical methods and the related tests. Conclusion: The average Ph. A was obtained equal to 5.87 +/- 1.42 in the case group and 7.29 +/- 0.355 in the control group which statistically significant relationship exists between the two groups in Ph. A value (P<0.000). Average micro-albuminuria was 67.32 +/- 75.92 in the case group and 0.276 +/- 0.147 in the control group which there was a significant relationship statistically between the amount of micro-albuminuria within the both groups (P< 0.000). Discussion: By investigation of the relationship between ph. Angle and micro-albuminuria in diabetic patients it can be concluded that the amount Ph. A reduces with the increase of micro-albuminuria and by increasing micro-albuminuria, the variables of overall body water volume, intracellular water and extracellular water relatively increase and fat mass relatively decreases

The life cycle environmental impacts of a novel sustainable ammonia production process from food waste and brown water

To replace existing high impact ammonia production technologies, a new sustainability-driven waste-based technology producing green ammonia with and without urea was devised using life cycle thinking and sustainable design principles, targeting efficiency, carbon emissions, water, and power use competitiveness. We have used life cycle assessment to determine whether cradle-to-gate, multiple configurations of the core waste-based processes integrating several carbon capture/utilization options can compete environmentally with other available ammonia technologies. Our waste-to-ammonia processes reduce potential impacts from abiotic depletion, human toxicity, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions relative to fossil-based and renewable technologies. Among the assessed technologies, coupling dark fermentation with anaerobic digestion and capturing CO2 for sequestration or later use is most efficient for GHGs, water, and energy, consuming 27% less energy and reducing GHGs by 98% compared to conventional ammonia. Water use is 38% lower than water electrolysis and GHGs are 94% below municipal waste incineration routes per kg NH3. Additionally, displacing conventional, high impact urea by integrating urea production from process CO2 decreases life cycle environmental impacts significantly despite increased energy demand. On a fertilizer-N basis, the ammonia + urea configuration without dark fermentation performs best on all categories included. Methane and ammonia leakage cause nearly all life cycle impacts, indicating that failing to prevent leakage undermines the effectiveness of new technologies such as these. Our results show that a green ammonia/ammonia + urea process family as designed here can reduce waste and prevent the release of additional CO2 from ammonia production while avoiding fossil-based alternatives and decreasing emissions from biogenic waste sources

Population genetic structure of the white sardine, Sardinella albella, in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman by analysis of mitochondrial control region

Several studies on the white sardine: Sardinella albella, have focused on the identification of stock composition and behavior. In this study population genetic structure and historical demography of S. albella along the cost of the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman were investigated with a 500-bp segment of mt-DNA control region. In total 40 samples were collected from 3 locations: Jask in Sea of Oman, Qeshm in Strait of Hormuz and Lengeh in the Persian Gulf during 2012-2013. 33 haplotype were obtained none of which were presented in all sampling sites. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated low genetic differentiation among regions (F_ST=0.024, p<0.05). The average pair wise differences between regional population were small but significant (0.0158-0.165). Molecular variance explained by differences among three regions was significantly different from zero but the F_ST did not show clear phylogeographic isolation. This observation can support the conclusion that S. albella has a widespread dispersal potential

Modeling and simulation of a novel sustainable ammonia production process from food waste and brown water

Global demand for both clean energy carriers and agricultural nutrients continues to grow rapidly, alongside increasing quantities of waste globally, interlinked challenges that may be addressed with interlinked solutions. We report on the potential efficiency and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) intensity of several configurations of a new, sustainability-driven ammonia (NH3) production processes to determine whether a waste-based process designed first around carbon dioxide (CO2) capture can compete with other available NH3 technologies. This is assessed via different scenarios: Two hydrogen generating options are paired with four CO2 fates. For either an anaerobic digestion-centered process or a two-stage dark fermentation coupled with anaerobic digestion process, the resultant CO2 may be captured and injected, sold to the marketplace, released directly in the atmosphere, or converted to urea in order to produce a green substitute for synthetic NH3. Modeled yields range from 47 t NH3 when the resultant CO2 is released or captured, or 3.8 t NH3 and 76.5 t urea when the system is designed to produce no unutilized CO2. Among the technologies assessed, NH3 production where CO2 is captured for anaerobic digestion-only is the most efficient for GHG emissions and water consumption, while the two-stage requires less energy on a fertilizer-N basis. GHG emissions for anaerobic digestion-only are approximately 8% lower than the two-stage. The best of the proposed technology configurations consumes about 41% less energy than water electrolysis coupled with Haber-Bosch and approximately 27% lower energy than Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) coupled with Haber-Bosch per kg NH3

Comparison of antibacterial activities of Ircinia mutans extracts in two different seasons from Kish Island, Persian Gulf, Iran

Sponges, which constitute the phylum Porifera, are the most primitive of the multicellular animals, among all marine organisms screened. Marine sponges produce the largest number of structurally diversified natural products. In this study we investigated in vitro antimicrobial activity of Ircinia mutans collected from the Kish Island in the Persian Gulf against strains of bacteria Escherichia coli (ATCC 15224), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 25619), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 1764), and Bacillus subtilis spizizenii (ATCC 6633). Diethyl etter, methanol and aqueous extracts of sponge were evaluated by using the Bacterial Broth Dilution Method. The results showed that the aqueous extracts didn’t have any antibacterial activity. Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC) of the winter diethyl etter extract was 2 mg/ml for E.coli and 20 mg/ml for P. aeruginosa, whereas the summer diethyl etter extract and both of methanol extracts did not show any activity. The MIC and MBC (Minimum Bacterial Concentration) of summer diethyl etter extracts were 2 mg/ml and 3mg/ml against S. aureus; and 5mg/ml and 10mg/ml when tested on B. subtilis. The MIC and MBC of winter diethyl etter extracts were measured as 1.5 mg/ml and 2mg/ml against S. aurous; and 5mg/ml and 10mg/ml when examined on B. subtilis. Summer and winter methanol and aqueous extracts of I. mutans did not show any activity against these bacteria. Therefore secondary metabolite solutions in diethyl etter contain components with antibacterial properties and can be used as antibiotics products

A novel approach to ammonia synthesis from hydrogen sulfide

There are a number of shortcomings for currently-available technologies for ammonia production, such as carbon dioxide emissions and water consumption. We simulate a novel model for ammonia production from hydrogen sulfide through membrane technologies. The proposed production process decreases the need for external water and reduces the physical footprint of the plant. The required hydrogen comes from the separation of hydrogen sulfide by electrochemical membrane separation, while the required nitrogen is obtained from separating oxygen from air through an ion transport membrane. 10% of the hydrogen from the electrochemical membrane separation along with the separated oxygen from the ion transport membrane is sent to the solid oxide fuel cell for heat and power generation. This production process operates with a minimal number of processing units and in physical, kinetic, and thermal conditions in which a separation factor of ~99.99% can be attained

Sustainable ammonia production processes

Due to the important role of ammonia as a fertilizer in the agricultural industry and its promising prospects as an energy carrier, many studies have recently attempted to find the most environmentally benign, energy efficient, and economically viable production process for ammonia synthesis. The most commonly utilized ammonia production method is the Haber-Bosch process. The downside to this technology is the high greenhouse gas emissions, surpassing 2.16 kgCO2-eq/kg NH3 and high amounts of energy usage of over 30 GJ/tonne NH3 mainly due to the strict operational conditions at high temperature and pressure. The most widely adopted technology for sustainable hydrogen production used for ammonia synthesis is water electrolysis coupled with renewable technologies such as wind and solar. In general, a water electrolyzer requires a continuous supply of pretreated water with high purity levels for its operation. Moreover, for production of 1 tonne of hydrogen, 9 tonnes of water is required. Based on this data, for the production of the same amount of ammonia through water electrolysis, 233.6 million tonnes/yr of water is required. In this paper, a critical review of different sustainable hydrogen production processes and emerging technologies for sustainable ammonia synthesis along with a comparative life cycle assessment of various ammonia production methods has been carried out. We find that through the review of each of the studied technologies, either large amounts of GHG emissions are produced or high volumes of pretreated water is required or a combination of both these factors occur

EM-Side-Channel Resistant Symmetric-Key Authentication Mechanism for Small Devices

We provide a novel electro-magnetic (EM) side-channel resistant symmetric-key authentication mechanism for small devices that uses a Benes network to permute the on-board authentication-key before computing a MAC of a challenge with the key. The permutation itself is derived from the challenge using a hash function acting as a random oracle. The solution has interesting applications such as forgery detection of currency bills

Patient privacy: Awareness and attitudes of Iran University of Medical Sciences medical students

Background: Respecting patients' privacy is an essential professional responsibility for physicians and other health team members. In this regard, this study investigates medical students' knowledge and attitude about confidentiality and disclosure of patients' information. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 160 medical students of Iran University of Medical Sciences participated who were selected using stratified random sampling. Data were gathered using a valid and reliable self-report questionnaire. Student's knowledge and attitude toward medical confidentiality were assessed using self-administered and researcher-made questionnaires. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for knowledge and attitude levels were 79.7 and 82.2, respectively. Results: The average of medical students' responses to knowledge and attitude questions were 56.6 (9.6/ 17) and 55.3 (9.4 out of 17), respectively. On average, females had an acceptable attitude about 57.5 of the questions, whereas this was 50.9 for males. On average, females had an acceptable knowledge about 59.5 of the questions, whereas this was 50.6 for males. Therefore, female's attitudes and knowledge were more correct than their male counterparts (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The low level of knowledge and attitude of medical students towards medical confidentiality indicates that revision of Iranian medical education curriculum to reinforce attention and knowledge of medical students on this issue to render appropriate care to patients is a necessity. Medical students' knowledge and attitude towards patient's confidentiality rights is not fulfilling. © Iran University of Medical Sciences

The in vivo effect of methyl tert-butyl ether on liver, gills and kidney tissues of Rutilus caspicus

This study was conducted to evaluate histopathological responses in liver, gills and kidney in Rutilus caspicus exposed to concentrations of 50, 100, 150 mg L^-1 of methyl tert-butyl ether, for 7, 14, and 21 days. The experiments were conducted in water temperature of 19±1 °C, dissolved oxygen of 7.6 ± 0.2 mg L^-1 and zero salinity. A total of 156 fish were studied in this experiment. In the first, second and third week of the experiment, three fish were taken randomly from each aquarium. To examine the tissues, the liver, gills and kidney were isolated and prepared for evaluation using standard histological techniques. Tissue damage in the liver includes: blood congestion, congestion of sinusoid, melano macrophage aggregation, hepatocyte hypertrophy, vacuolation, degeneration and cellular necrosis. Gill tissue damage includes: hyperplasia, degeneration lifting, telangiectasis, in secondary lamellae, blood congestion in primary and secondary lamellae, S formation of lamellae, and reduction in length of secondary lamella, lamellar fusion and cellular necrosis. Tissue damage in the kidney includes: tubular shrinkage, blood congestion, melano macrophage aggregation, glomerular shrinkage, cellular necrosis, tubular degeneration, reduction in interstsial cells and interstisial hematopoietic tissue degeneration. The amount of tissue damages in high concentrations of pollutants was high, while gill, liver and kidney in the control group were observed in the normal outline. The results of this study showed that methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) can cause damage in vital tissues of R. caspicus and even, eventually lead to death