Deteriorated Concrete Foundation on the Gulf Coast

An investigation into the deteriorated condition of a concrete mat foundation under saline water table on a coastal sabkha sand in Qatar, the Arabian Gulf coast, was undertaken. The investigation aided by visual examination, testing (destructive and non-destructive), analysis and consideration of different soil-structure interaction schemes resulted in re-approval of the foundation from a structural integrity point of view; however its water tightness role was judged inadequate and required remedial works. Options for repair of the foundation were examined and proposed. To safeguard against the adverse effects of salts on foundation concrete, appropriate design and construction measures are required

Metastase pineale d’un adenocarcinome colique a propos d’un cas

La région pinéale représente un site inhabituel de métastases cérébrales. Décrite pour la première fois par FORESTIER en 1858 à la suite d’un  carcinome pulmonaire, 87 descriptions radiologiques ont été rapportées dans la littérature. Nous rapportons un nouveau cas de localisation pinéale secondaire.Pineal region represents an unusual site of cerebral metastasis. Described for the first time by FORESTER in 1858 following a lung carcinoma, 87 radiological descriptions were reported in the literature. We bring back a new case of secondary pineal location.Mots clés : Adénocarcinome, imagerie, métastase pinéaleKeywords: Adenocarcinoma; imaging; pineal metastasi

Microbial resistance in patients with urinary tract infections in Al-Mukalla, Yemen

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is an aggravating and common problem in human at sometimes during their life and may give more complications.Objective: To project antimicrobial resistance in patients with UTI as a wide problem among cases referred to the National Center of Public Health Laboratories in Ibn-Sina Teaching Hospital in Al- Mukalla, Hadhramout Governorate in Yemen.Materials and methods: From 290 cases referred from Ibn-Sina Teaching Hospital outpatients, urine samples were tested and reported in the National Center for Public Health Laboratories at the period from 2003 to 2006. Data were obtained from the records of the center (for urine examination, culture and sensitivity test) and analyzed.Results: Among 290 cases, 147(50.7%) were suffering from urinary tract infection. E. coli, which is the normal intestinal flora, was the most common isolate 52 (35.4%). E. coli showed high resistance against quinolones (84.6%) and penicillin (78.8%) and there was no resistance against macrolides. Conclusion: Microbial resistance strains were high, which may be due to the abuse of antibiotics.Keywords: Hadhramout, E. coli, macrolides, quinolones

Listado taxonómico comentado de los Capitélidos (Annelida, Polychaeta) de la península Iberica, islas Chafarinas, Baleares y Canarias

The present annotated checklist has been elaborated after revision of preserved materials (from the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid and the reference collection of the Marine Biology Laboratory of the University of Valencia) and published literature related to capitellids from the Iberian Peninsula, Chafarinas, Balearic and Canary Islands. Twenty-four species and subspecies belonging to thirteen genera are recognized as valid taxa. With this checklist we include some taxonomic details and information on distribution at both global and regional levels. This work includes the setal formula and diagrammatic representation of capitellid taxa treated in this study.Se ha elaborado un listado taxonómico comentado de los capitélidos de la Península Ibérica, Islas Chafarinas, Baleares y Canarias a partir de la revisión de materiales (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid y colección de referencia del Laboratorio de Biología Marina de la Universidad de Valencia) y de la bibliografía publicada referente a este grupo. Se reconocen como taxones válidos 24 especies y subespecies pertenecientes a 13 géneros. En esta lista se incluyen para cada especie algunos detalles taxonómicos e información sobre su distribución geográfica tanto a nivel mundial como regional. Asimismo, se aporta la fórmula setal y el diagrama gráfico para los taxones contemplados en este estudio

Predicting Intermediate Storage Performance for Workflow Applications

Configuring a storage system to better serve an application is a challenging task complicated by a multidimensional, discrete configuration space and the high cost of space exploration (e.g., by running the application with different storage configurations). To enable selecting the best configuration in a reasonable time, we design an end-to-end performance prediction mechanism that estimates the turn-around time of an application using storage system under a given configuration. This approach focuses on a generic object-based storage system design, supports exploring the impact of optimizations targeting workflow applications (e.g., various data placement schemes) in addition to other, more traditional, configuration knobs (e.g., stripe size or replication level), and models the system operation at data-chunk and control message level. This paper presents our experience to date with designing and using this prediction mechanism. We evaluate this mechanism using micro- as well as synthetic benchmarks mimicking real workflow applications, and a real application.. A preliminary evaluation shows that we are on a good track to meet our objectives: it can scale to model a workflow application run on an entire cluster while offering an over 200x speedup factor (normalized by resource) compared to running the actual application, and can achieve, in the limited number of scenarios we study, a prediction accuracy that enables identifying the best storage system configuration

Efficiency of Barley Bran and Oat Bran in Ameliorating Blood Lipid Profile and the Adverse Histological Changes in Hypercholesterolemic Male Rats

The efficiency of oat bran and barley bran in lowering the induced hyperlipidemia and hypercholesterolemia in blood of male Albino rats (Rattus rattus) was studied. Twenty rats were divided into four groups each consisted of five rats and fed the specified test diets for eight weeks. The first group (G1) is the negative group which was fed basal diet, the second group (G2) was fed 1.0% cholesterol, was the third group (G3) fed 1.0% cholesterol and 10% oats bran, and the fourth group (G4) was fed 1.0% cholesterol and 10% barley bran. Feeding rats on 1% cholesterol significantly increased serum total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein, and very low density lipoprotein and triglyceride and decreased serum high density lipoprotein. Furthermore, enzyme activity of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase was increased, and lipid peroxide was increased, whereas catalase and glutathione-S-transferase were decreased. Kidney functions parameters in the cholesterol supplemented group were elevated compared with the negative control. In addition, histological alteration in kidney, liver, heart, and testes was observed, compared with the negative control. Hypercholesterolemic rats supplemented with oat bran and barley bran showed significant decrease in lipid parameters, significant increase in high density lipoprotein-cholesterol, improved antioxidant enzyme, and improved histopathology of kidney, liver, heart, and testes. In conclusion, both oat bran and barley bran had protective effects against induced hyperlipidemia and improved histological alterations. Oat bran appeared more efficient than barley bran in lowering the lipid profile levels in hypercholesterolemic rats

Fatigue and TSH Levels in Hypothyroid Patients

Background. Fatigue is often the complaint that initiates thyroid function investigation. Most available data related to fatigue and hypothyroidism involved patients with subclinical hypothyroidism where fatigue was not the primary outcome. This study investigated the association between TSH levels and fatigue and if there was a target TSH interval that was associated with lower incidence of fatigue in patients with hypothyroidism. Methods. An analytic, retrospective cohort study design assessed the relationship between TSH levels and fatigue. All adult patients at one endocrinology clinic who were diagnosed with hypothyroidism between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2007 were included. Diagnoses were confirmed by biochemical testing. Data were abstracted from the clinic’s electronic medical record. Fatigue status was self-reported by the subject during examination by the endocrinologist. Fatigue status and TSH levels were obtained twice: at diagnosis and during the first follow-up visit. Results. A total of 135 patients met the inclusion criteria. After treatment, all patients had reductions in TSH levels. Those subjects reporting relief from fatigue tended to be males (p = 0.003), had lower TSH levels at follow-up (p < 0.001), had larger TSH differences from baseline (p =0.007), and had a primary diagnosis of acquired hypothyroidism (p < 0.001). Females were 2.9 times more likely to report persistent fatigue than males. Patients with primary diagnosis of thyroiditis were 3 times more likely to report persistent fatigue than those with acquired hypothyroidism. Conclusions. The observed relief from fatigue after treatment correlated with a higher TSH reduction compared to patients with persistent fatigue. It was unclear if fatigue relief was related to the level of TSH reduction (TSH difference) or to a lower absolute TSH level reached after treatment

Analyse et détermination des ions inorganiques par électrophorèse capillaire de zone

L’analyse et la détermination des anions inorganiques (Br-, Cl-, NO2-, SO42-, NO3-, ClO3-, F-, et HPO42-) et des cations inorganiques (Li+, K+, Na+, Mg2+ et Ca2+) dans différents échantillons d’eaux ont été réalisées par électrophorèse capillaire avec la détection UV en mode indirect à 214 ou à 254 nm. Notre approche analytique est basée sur la détection en mode UV-indirect en raison de la transparence des ions inorganiques dans le domaine UV du spectre électromagnétique. La séparation des ions est basée aussi sur le fait que la mobilité électroosmotique soit dans la même direction de la mobilité électrophorétiques des ions analysés dans le but de réduire leur temps de migration. Nous avons recommandé alors le cation imidazolium pour la séparation des cations inorganiques et l’anion chromate pour la séparation des anions inorganiques. La procédure analytique développée est appliquée pour la détermination des ions inorganiques dans des eaux à différentes provenances.mots clés : Eléctrophorèse capillaire, UV-indirect, ions inorganiques

Removal Efficiency of Textile Dyes from Aqueous Solutions Using Calcined Waste of Eggshells as Eco-friendly Adsorbent: Kinetic and Thermodynamic Studies

This research investigates the removal of textile dyes (Rhodamine B and Alizarin Red S) from aqueous solution by a low-cost adsorbent prepared from eggshell waste. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted in order to determine the effect of different parameters such as pH, dye concentration, contact time, adsorbent dosage, particle size, and temperature. The best correlation was found by Langmuir model, and the maximum adsorption capacity was 175.58 mg g–1 for Rhodamine B and 156.56 mg g–1 for Alizarin Red S. Thermodynamic studies showed that the adsorption of Rhodamine B and Alizarin Red S were feasible, spontaneous, and exothermic in nature. Regeneration study conducted to test the reusability (five cycles) and comparison of adsorption capacities of Rhodamine B and Alizarin Red S showed that calcined eggshell adsorbent could potentially be used for the removal of dyes from aqueous solutions. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Readability and content analysis of lifestyle education resources for weight management in Australian general practice

© 2016 El-Haddad et al. Background: Weight management education is one of the key strategies to assist patients to manage their weight. Educational resources provide an important adjunct in the chain of communication between practitioners and patients. However, one in five Australian adults has low health literacy. The purpose of this study was to assess the readability and analyse the content of weight management resources. Methods: This study is based on the analysis of 23 resources found in the waiting rooms of ten Sydney-based general practices and downloaded from two clinical software packages used at these practices. The reading grade level of these resources was calculated using the Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Fry Readability Graph, and the Simplified Measure of Gobbledygook. Resources' content was analysed for the presence of dietary, physical activity, and behaviour change elements, as recommended by the Clinical practice guidelines for the management of overweight and obesity in adults, adolescents, and children in Australia. Results: The resources' average reading grade level was for a 10th grader (9.5 ± 1.8). These findings highlight that the average reading grade level was two grades higher than the recommended reading grade level for health education resources of 8th grade level or below. Seventy percent of resources contained dietary and behaviour change elements. Physical activity was included in half of the resources. Two messages were identified to be inconsistent with the guidelines and three messages had no scientific basis. Conclusion: A body of evidence now exists that supports the need to develop evidence-based education resources for weight management that place low demand on literacy, without compromising content accuracy. The findings from this study suggest that there is significant room for improvement in the educational resources provided in general practices