Bio-Waste Management in Razi University by production of Leaf Mulch for the first time in world

Mulch is a type of protective covering placed on or spread over the soil surface. Mulches can be organic or inorganic and are available in many forms. Plastic film, proprietary mulch fabric, pinebark, straw, wood chips, newspaper, bark, grass clippings and leaf litter are examples. The use of tree leaves as mulch is very important to maximize the use of bio waste and reduce the environmental impact of waste and it is seen as both economically and environmentally sensible.  Therefore, Leaf Mulch was produced for the first time in the world at Razi University by designing devices and using the technical knowledge of researchers. The aim of Leaf Mulch production, in addition to the optimal use of bio waste, was to maintain soil water, strengthen soil, control weeds and balance in soil temperature.Keyword: Bio-Waste Management, Leaf-Mulch, Maintain soil water, Strengthen soi

Contrast Sensitivity versus Visual Evoked Potentials in Multiple Sclerosis

Purpose: To compare the Cambridge contrast sensitivity (CS) test and visual evoked potentials (VEP) in detecting visual impairment in a population of visually symptomatic and asymptomatic patients affected by clinically definite multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: Fifty patients (100 eyes) presenting with MS and 25 healthy subjects (50 eyes) with normal corrected visual acuity were included in this study. CS was determined using the Cambridge Low Contrast Grating test and VEP was obtained in all eyes. Findings were evaluated in two age strata of 10-29 and 30-49 years. Results: Of the 42 eyes in the 10-29 year age group, CS was abnormal in 22 (52%), VEP was also abnormal in 22 (52%), but only 12 eyes (28%) had visual symptoms. Of the 58 eyes in the 30-49 year group, CS was abnormal in 7 (12%), VEP was abnormal in 34 (58%), while only 11 eyes were symptomatic. No single test could detect all of the abnormal eyes. Conclusion: The Cambridge Low Contrast Grating test is useful for detection of clinical and subclinical visual dysfunction especially in young patients with multiple sclerosis. Nevertheless, only a combination of CS and VEP tests can detect most cases of visual dysfunction associated with MS

Investigating Health Status of Older People Supported by Imam

Objectives: The present study aimed at studying the health status of the elderly supported by Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation in Birjand in 2007. Methods & Materials: This descriptive analytical study was done on 250 elderly people who were supported by Imam Khomeini committee in Birjand. For data collection the comprehensive health questionnaire of the elderly was used. The questionnaire was filled out through interviewing with the subjects and their weight, blood pressure, and height were measured under standard condition. The obtained data was analyzed by SPSS software and using chi-square test at the significant level P<0.05. Results: This study was conducted on 250 elderly people whose mean age was 71&plusmn;8.7 years. The subjects included 119 (47.6%) females and 131(52.4%) males. About 88.8% of the subjects were illiterate, 41.6% of them had problems in housing, 11.2% and 93.2% also had insurance and financial problems, respectively. Also 10.4% of the old people had a history of diabetes and 39.6% were hypertensive, 68% had vision problems and 10.8% was suffering urologic complications. As far as depression is concerned, 68.4% had mild depression and 3.2% had severed depression. Regarding cognitive problems, 24.4% ranged between mild to severe. Moreover, 24% of the subjects suffered malnutrition and 67.6% were at risk of it. Hypertension was more prevalent in males than in females (P=0.07) more in urban than in rural areas (P=0.04). There was a significant difference in the prevalence of depression in women compared with men (P<0.001) the prevalence was also more in the inhabitants of the urban areas in comparison with rural areas inhabitants (P=0.02). A significant difference was found between males and females in terms of daily activities. Conclusion: Regarding high prevalence of hypertension, hearing and vision problems- which are the underlying causes of other physical and mental problems of the elderly - it is necessary for health-care authorities, supporting committee (Imam Khomeini supporting committee), and other favoring organs to take more account of living and financial problems of the erderly

Awareness of Orthodontic Treatments among School Teachers of Two Cities in Iran

Background and aims. Since most orthodontic patients are children and adolescents, it is believed that teachers can help find these patients and make them aware of their orthodontic problems. Therefore, teachers are expected to have proper knowledge about these problems. The aim of this study was to determine teachers’ awareness about orthodontic treatments in Tabriz and Saqqez and compare it in different educational levels. Materials and methods. A questionnaire was given to 384 teachers (204 in Tabriz and 180 in Saqqez) in randomly selected schools of different levels. The questionnaire had 17 questions in 3 sections, including general information, age, and costs of orthodontic treatments. The teachers’ awareness in two cities was analyzed with independent t-test and in educational levels with one-way ANOVA. Results. About 94% of the participants believed orthodontic treatment consisted of arrangement of teeth with special braces. However, there was no significant difference between the two cities in general information (p=0.23) and the age suitable for orthodontic treatment (p=0.53). The differences in the teachers’ awareness in three educational levels were not statistically significant between the two cities (p=0.23). Conclusion. Awareness of teachers about orthodontic treatment in Saqqez and Tabriz was not sufficient and different; 75% of the participants believed that high cost of orthodontic treatment is the main problem

Montmorillonite-based polyacrylamide hydrogel rings for controlled vaginal drug delivery

Vaginal drug delivery is regarded as a promising route against women-related health issues such as unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. However, only a very few studies have been reported on the use of hydrogel rings with low cytotoxicity for vaginal drug delivery applications. Moreover, the effect of nanoparticles on hydrogel vaginal rings has not been clearly evaluated. To overcome these challenges, we hereby developed nanocomposite hydrogel rings based on polyacrylamide-sodium carboxymethyl cellulose-montmorillonite nanoparticles in the ring-shaped aluminum mold for controlled drug delivery. The hydrogel rings were synthesized by using N,N′-methylene bisacrylamide, N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl ethylene diamine, and ammonium persulfate, as a crosslinker, accelerator, and initiator, respectively. The obtained rings were 5.5 cm in diameters and 0.5 cm in rims. Chemical structures of the nanocomposite rings were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopies. Additionally, the swelling ratio of hydrogels was appeared to be adjusted by the introduction of nanoparticles. In vitro release experiment of methylene blue, as a hydrophilic model drug, revealed that the nanocomposite rings could not only reduce burst effect (almost more than twice), but also achieve prolonged release for 15 days in the vaginal fluid simulant which mimic the vaginal conditions at pH of almost 4.2, and a temperature of 37 °C. Importantly, the resultant hydrogel rings with or without various concentrations of montmorillonite showed low cytotoxicity toward human skin fibroblasts. Furthermore, different antibacterial activities against Escherichia coli were observed for various concentrations of montmorillonite in hydrogels. These results suggest the great potential of montmorillonite-based hydrogel rings for vaginal drug delivery

Strong equality of Roman and perfect Roman Domination in trees

A Roman dominating function (RD-function) on a graph G = (V, E) is a function f : V → {0, 1, 2} satisfying the condition that every vertex u for which f(u) = 0 is adjacent to at least one vertex v for which f(v) = 2. An Roman dominating function f in a graph G is perfect Roman dominating function (PRD-function) if every vertex u with f(u) = 0 is adjacent to exactly one vertex v for which f(v) = 2. The (perfect) Roman domination number γR(G) (${\gamma }_R^p(G)$) is the minimum weight of an (perfect) Roman dominating function on G. We say that ${\gamma }_R^p(G)$ strongly equals γR(G), denoted by ${\gamma }_R^p(G)\equiv {\gamma }_R(G)$, if every RD-function on G of minimum weight is a PRD-function. In this paper we show that for a given graph G, it is NP-hard to decide whether ${\gamma }_R^p(G)={\gamma }_R(G)$ and also we provide a constructive characterization of trees T with ${\gamma }_R^p(T)\equiv {\gamma }_R(T)$

Structure and Stability Analysis of Cytotoxic Complex of Camel α-Lactalbumin and Unsaturated Fatty Acids Produced at High Temperature

Abstract α-Lactalbumin (α-La), together with oleic acid can be converted to a complex, which kills tumor cells selectively. Cytotoxic α-La -oleic acid and α-La -linoleic acid complexes were generated by adding fatty acid to camel holo α-La at 60°C (referred to as La-OA-60 and La-LA-60 state, respectively). Structural properties of these complexes were studied and compared to the camel α-La. The experimental results show that linoleic acid induces α-La partial unfolding but oleic acid does not change the protein structure significantly. Also the stability of La-OA-60 and La-LA-60 toward thermal denaturation was measured. The order of temperature at the transition midpoint is as follows: La-LA-60 &lt; La-OA-60 &lt; α-La. La-OA-60 complex inhibited tubulin polymerization in vitro. Although the structures of La-OA-60 and La-LA-60 were different, these two complexes had similar cytotoxic effect to DU145 human prostate cancer cells. Samples of La-OA-60 that have been renatured after denaturation lost the specific biological activity toward tumor cells

An investigation on the capability of magnetically separable Fe₃O₄/mordenite zeolite for refinery oily wastewater purification

Damage to the water resources and environment as a consequence of oil production and use of fossil fuels, has increased the need for applying various technologies and developing effective materials to remove contaminates from oily wastewaters resources. One of the challenges for an economic industrial wastewater treatment is separation and reusability of the developed purifying agents. Development of magnetic materials could potentially facilitate easier and more economic separation of purifying agents. Therefore, herein we have synthesised an efficient and easily recyclable Fe3O4/mordenite zeolite using a hydrothermal process to investigate its purification capability for wastewater from Kermanshah oil refinery. The synthesised Fe3O4/mordenite zeolite was characterised using XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDX, XRF and BET analysis. XRD result showed that the synthesised Fe3O4/mordenite zeolite comprised sodium aluminium silicate hydrate phase [01-072-7919, Na8(Al6Si30O72)(H2O)9.04] and cubic iron oxide phase [04-013-9808, Fe3O4]. Response Surface Method (RSM) combined with Central Composite Design (CCD) was used to identify the optimum operation parameters of the pollutant removal process. The effect of pH, contact time and Fe3O4/mordenite zeolite amount on the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU) were investigated. It was found that pH was the most significant factor influencing COD and BOD removal but the quantity of Fe3O4/mordenite zeolite was the most influential factor on the turbidity removal capacity. The optimum removal process conditions were identified to be pH of 7.81, contact time of 15.8 min and Fe3O4/mordenite zeolite amount of 0.52% w/w. The results show that the regenerated Fe3O4/mordenite zeolite can be reused for five consecutive cycles in purification of petroleum wastes