USCID fourth international conference

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Includes bibliographical references.Based on the shortage of water resources in Iran and the high evapotranspiration rate in Khuzestan region (2044 mm/year), an irrigation system on Estamaran palm tree in the Experimental Farm of Shahid Rajaee of Omidiyeh plain was conducted. This study had two purposes, namely irrigation frequency and suitable depth of irrigation application of the Estamaran palm trees in Omidiyeh region. This study had two objectives. Irrigation frequency was the primary treatment and the evapotranspiration estimating methods was the secondary treatment. Three irrigation levels. i.e. one day long (A1), two day long (A2) and three day long (A3), were used as irrigation frequency. Also the evapotranspiration estimating methods used were, Penman-Montith 100% (B1), Penman-Montith 70% (B2), class A pan 100% (B3) and class A pan 70% (B4). Since this study had three replications, 36 palm trees were selected for this experiment. Cropwat software V.4 for windows, was applied for the evapotranspiration estimating from Penman-Montieth method. Irrigation scheduling was done according to SCS recommendations. Experimental design was according to split plot method in a randomized block. Finally by measuring the different growth indices of palm trees (leaf number, barb number and leaflet length) at a definite time, the best treatment was determined. The results showed that as a whole all the treatments in this experiment did not show a significant difference (up to 5% level) for the indicated indices. However, at the end of 4 month since the beginning of this study, the growth indices of trees in A2B1, A1B2 and A1B1 increased compared to other treatments. The result also indicated that, A1B2 was the best treatment of all. In comparison with the traditional irrigation by local farmers, using A1B2 treatment for all the palm trees (from Aug to Nov), will have 28422.34 m3 water saving in 3.87 hectare per month

Evaluation of WHO’s partogram alert line for prediction of the APGAR score at the first minute after birth

Background and aim: The early diagnosis of abnormal progress of labour and prevention of long term delivery are the main keys to reduce fetal mortality rate due to hypoxia and tissue ischemia. One of the WHO’s proposed methods for prevention of abnormal delivery is using partogram. Therefore, this survey was conducted to evaluate WHO’s partogram alert line for APGAR score at the first minute after birth. Methods: This descriptive–analytical study was performed on 140 pregnant women under partogram in Shahrood Fatemieh hospital. Using the partogram alert line, the progress of labour, mother’s and infants condition started to be controled from 3 cm dilation of the cervix. Decision for resuscitation was made based on respiration, heart rate and skin color of the infant 20 to 30 seconds after the birth. Tools of this research were a questionare, inspection form consisted of WHO’s partogram and step by step resuscitation form. χ2, t–test and analytical methods of sensitivity, specificity and negative and positive values were used for data analysis. Results: The results showed that 68.8% of the subjects cervical dilatation remained on or to the left side of the alert line and 28.6% was on the right side and 2.9% was on or to the right side of the active line. According to χ2 test, there was a significant relationship between the first minute APGAR score after delivery and the location of cervical dilation. The value of alert line for surveying of APGAR score at the first minute after birth had a sensitivity of 25%, specificity of 96.87% , negative and positive predictive value of 75.6% and 76.92%, respectively. Conclusion: Our results showed that using WHO’s partogram prevents long term delivery, helps for on time diagnosis of fetal distress and reduction in stillbirth and fetal mortality. So, partogram should be a part and parcel of fetal and maternal health care

Evaluation and comparison of clinical and para clinical diagnosis of Candida vaginitis in women referred to Shahrood city health care centers years between 2004-2007

Background and aim: Candida vaginitis is the second common cause of vaginitis and Candida albicans is cause of 90 percent of vaginal fungal infections. Because antifungal drugs are among the cheapest vaginal drugs this study was performed to evaluate and compare clinical and paraclinical diagnosis of candida vaginitis in women referred to health care centers in Shahrood cityfrom 2004 to 2007. Methods: This deh1ive-analytic research was performed on 300 women with vaginitis infections who were referred to the Shahrood city health care centers. Two samples of secretions were taken from both endocervix and exocervix using speculum and spread on two glass slides and then one sample was taken from posterior culdesac secretions with a cotton soup and entered into a tube containing sterilized physiological serum. A questionnaire was filled out by a midwife for every patient. Standard laboratory methods (cultures Pap smear wet smear and etc.) were used to evaluate the samples and the second questionnaire was filled out by the midwife. Finally results were analyzed by statistical methods. Results: Based on clinical results 132 persons (44%) had candida infection but the infection was not proved by cell culture in 30 patients ((10%) and wet smear in 111 persons (37%). No candida infection was found in cytology survey. Based on clinical results vaginal pH was measured 5.01. The amount of pH was found 5.52 5.8 and 5.71 based on wet smear cell cultures and Pap smear respectively. The physical examination sensitivity for detecting vaginal candidiasis was 63.33% compared to the cell culture. Conclusion: The results of this study show that some para-clinical examinations should be considered for diagnosis of vaginal candidiasis. These para-clinical experiments help to prevent and reduce the side effects of some unnecessary medications

The problem of pasteurellosis as an infection common for animals and humans

pasteurellosis, pasteurella, английский язык, пастереллез, человек, сельскохозяйственные животны

Experimental study on bendway weirs

River morphodynamics and sediment transportBank erosion and protectio

Fitting Ranked English and Spanish Letter Frequency Distribution in U.S. and Mexican Presidential Speeches

The limited range in its abscissa of ranked letter frequency distributions causes multiple functions to fit the observed distribution reasonably well. In order to critically compare various functions, we apply the statistical model selections on ten functions, using the texts of U.S. and Mexican presidential speeches in the last 1-2 centuries. Dispite minor switching of ranking order of certain letters during the temporal evolution for both datasets, the letter usage is generally stable. The best fitting function, judged by either least-square-error or by AIC/BIC model selection, is the Cocho/Beta function. We also use a novel method to discover clusters of letters by their observed-over-expected frequency ratios.Comment: 7 figure

The effect of lovastatin on cognition impairment induced by bilateral electrical lesion of nucleus basalis magnocellularis in the Alzheimerâs disease model in adult male rats

Background: Statins, inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase, are widely used as medication to lower cholesterol levels in human patients. Much evidence indicates that statins can also exert neuroprotective actions. So, this study aimed at examining the effect of lovastatin on cognition deficit induced by bilateral electrical lesion of nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) in the Alzheimer’s disease model in adult male rats. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 56 adult male wistar rats were divided into 8 groups (n=7): control (intact), NBM lesion group (which received electrically- induced lesion 0.5 mA in 3s), sham group (the electrode was impaled into the NBM with no lesion(, lovastatin groups (lesion+1, 5, 10, 20 mg/kg) and DMSO 5 group (NBM lesion +DMSO 5). Acquisition and retention testing was done by using an eight-radial arm maze in which the patterns of arm entries were recorded for calculating working memory errors, reference memory error and latency in each group. Results: The bilateral NBM lesion resulted in significant reduction of spatial memory in acquisition and retention tests in the form of increased working and reference memory errors compared to the control group (P<0.05). Post-lesion treatment with lovastatin improved the parameters of spatial memory errors in the acquisition and retention tasks compared to the lesion group. Conclusion: The electrical NBM lesion can reduce spatial memory function and the lovastatin therapy after brain injury improved cognitive disorders. It seems that lovastatin by reducing the activity of the acetylcholinesterase enzyme and increasing acetylcholine transferase enzyme activity can cause improvement in learning and memory capability

Studies on the toxicity of 2-Methyltetrahydrofuran on the histopathology of gills of African catfish Clarias gariepinus

In the present study, investigation were carried out on gills of African cat fish Clarias gariepinus exposed to sub lethal concentrations (80mg/ml,400mg/ml and 800mg/ml) of 2-Methyltetrahydrofuran for 10 days. Lesions were observed in gills tissue of treated fish for long term exposure to Methyltetrahydrofuran (2MTHF). The occurrence and degree of alteration were positively related with the concentration of 2MTHF. Histological examination of the gills of fish treated with 80 mg/ml of 2MTHF for 10 days showed architectural loss, necrosis and desquamation of epithelial layer. Histological examination of the gills of fish treated with 400 mg/ml of 2MTHF for 10 days showed architectural loss, necrosis and mild vaccuolation. The gill filament exhibited telangiectesis, disorganisation of secondary gill lamellae and complete vaccuolation of gills  treated with 800 mg/ml of 2MTHF for 10 days.  The study indicated that 2MTHF had marked effects on the cyto-architecture of the gills of C. gariepinus.  The degree of vaccuolation and necrosis were positively related with the concentration of 2MTHF

Seasonal variation in phytoplankton of Tadoba lake, Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), Distt. Chandrapur (MS), India

Tadoba lake is the major lake in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reservoir (TATR) in the Chandrapur district, in eastern Maharashtra which represent a unique habitat for wildlife in central India and oldest National Park of the state. The lake is free from human activities. The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the population of planktonic algae of the lake from June-2006 to May-2007. The study of phytoplanktonic diversity revealed the presence of 35 species belonging to four major groups, Chlorophyceae, Bacillariophyceae, Myxophyceae and Euglenophyceae among which Bacillariophyceae was dominant. The rich floral diversity indicates high productive nature of pond

USCID fourth international conference

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Includes bibliographical references.Backpropagation Neural Network is applied to establish the relationship between meteorological factors and evapotranspiration, which is then used to predict the evapotranspiration in ChiaNan irrigated area, Taiwan. It takes the weather data from Irrigation Experiment Station of ChiaNan Irrigation Association as the input layer, which include the following weather factors: (1) the highest temperature; (2) the lowest temperature; (3) average temperature; (4) relative humidity; (5) wind speed; (6) sunlight hours; (7) solar radiation amount; (8) dew point; (9) forenoon ground temperature; (10) afternoon ground temperature. From the result it can be known that the correlation coefficient reaches 0.993 between the evapotranspiration in 2004 calculated by FAO56 Penman-Monteith method and the one predicted by the neural network model with a hidden layer of 10 nodes. The actual evapotranspiration is 911.6cm and the prediction by the neural network is 864.4, between which the error ratio is 1.67%. The correlation coefficient is 0.708 between the actual evaporation in 2004 and the prediction by the neural network with a hidden layer of 10 nodes and an output layer with the pan evaporation as its target output. The pan evaporation is 1674.1cm, while the prediction by the neural network is 1451.7cm, between which the error ratio is 13.23%