Is there a value for probiotic supplements in gestational diabetes mellitus? A randomized clinical trial

Background: Although several studies have found probiotics encouraging in prevention of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), the evidence for the use of probiotics in diagnosed GDM is largely limited. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a probiotic supplement capsule containing four bacterial strains on glucose metabolism indices and weight changes in women with newly diagnosed GDM. Methods: Sixty-four pregnant women with GDM were enrolled into a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial. They were randomly assigned to receive either a probiotic or placebo capsule along with dietary advice for eight consecutive weeks. The trend of weight gain along with glucose metabolism indices was assayed. Results: During the first 6 weeks of the study, the weight gain trend was similar between the groups. However, in the last 2 weeks of the study, the weight gain in the probiotic group was significantly lower than in the placebo group (p < 0.05). Fasting blood sugar (FBS) decreased in both intervention (from 103.7 to 88.4 mg/dl) and control (from 100.9 to 93.6 mg/dl) groups significantly, and the decrease in the probiotic group was significantly higher than in the placebo group (p < 0.05). Insulin resistance index in the probiotic group had 6.74 % reduction over the study period (p < 0.05). In the placebo group, however, there was an increase in insulin resistance index (6.45 %), but the observed change in insulin resistance was not statistically significant. Insulin sensitivity index was increased in both groups. The post-intervention insulin sensitivity index in the probiotic group was not significantly different from placebo when adjusted for the baseline levels. Conclusions: The probiotic supplement appeared to affect glucose metabolism and weight gain among pregnant women with GDM. This needs to be confirmed in other settings before a therapeutic value could be approved

Investigation of three-phase nozzle flow (water- sand -air) in an innovative sand-blasting system

The study presented herewith was mainly focused on the numerical analysis of air-sand-water three-phase turbulent flow through converging-diverging nozzle. For this purpose dispersed flow of air-sand-water by various air inlet pressures, ambient air inlet temperature, sand particles and water droplets by different mass flow rates and temperature were considered. This study puts emphasis on sand blasting nozzle which is employed in Farrow abrasive system. Two-way turbulence coupling between particles/droplets and air flow as well as interference between the incident stream of particles and rebounded from the wall were applied in the numerical model. In addition, the shock wave which is produced in supersonic flow at diverging part of nozzle was considered. In order to capture the turbulent flow features accurately, Standard, RNG and Realizable k- models as well as Spalart-Allmaras and Reynolds Stress turbulence models were tested. Meanwhile, Eulerian Model and Discrete Phase Model were employed for simulating of multi-phase flow through the nozzle. Eventually, Realizable k-ε Discrete Phase model was utilized in the present study. Since there is not any experimental or analytical result on three-phase flow through the nozzle, for validation of model, the same turbulent and multi-phase models were utilized on air-water two-phase flow. The obtained results were in good agreement with the experimental data. According to the results of three-phase flow simulation, the averaged exhaust momentum of sand particles had inverse proportion with water mass flow rate. The increasing of air inlet pressure had significant effect on mean exhaust velocity of sand particles. Moreover, the air exhaust velocity had direct proportion with inlet temperature of water droplets and sand particles. This investigation may be used in further studies related to the optimisation of sand blasting nozzle in different working conditions

An experimental comparison of thermal performance: Smooth and inner-grooved closed loop pulsating heat pipes in different angles

Pulsating Heat Pipes are ideal for compact cooling applications such as electronic cooling. In this experimental research, the thermal performance of Inner-Grooved Pulsating Heat Pipes (IGPHP) and Smooth Pulsating Heat Pipes (SPHP) compared using distilled water in different angles. The inclination angles of 0o, 5 o, 15 o, 30 o, 50 o, 70 o, and 90 o, and the input heat range of 50-300 W were studied. The results show that the optimum filling ratio is 60% for IGPHP and SPHP. The study shows that in constant Input heat, the thermal resistance of IGPHP is lower than SPHP and the effective thermal conductivity of IGPHP is higher compared to SPHP. The average reduction of the thermal resistance of IGPHP compared to SPHP was found 21% across all angles and input heat powers; however, the average reduction was 49% for the angle of 5 o across all input heat powers. The dryout phenomenon for IGPHP took place at 0o and the input heat of 100 W, while for SPHP, this occurred at 5o and 250 W. The overall comparison shows that IGPHP is an even better alternative to SPHP in higher capacity applications

A computational approach to understand the breathing dynamics and pharmaceutical aerosol transport in a realistic airways.

Targeted drug delivery is an advanced method discussed in the literature for optimized treatment of diseases. However, the data for a precise understanding of pharmaceutical aerosol transport to the desired positions in the airways is not sufficient in the literature. Hence, in this work the transport and deposition of particles have been studied numerically in a realistic model of the respiratory system. The model was reconstructed based on CT-scan images of a healthy 28-year-old male and the commercial code ANSYS Fluent was used for analysis. After validation, distribution and deposition patterns of particles have been presented along with analysis of flow field dynamics. It was found that majority of particles enter the right lung while deposition is higher in the left lung and that the left lower lobe, left upper lobe and right lower lobe have the highest rate of lobar deposition. It was also observed that inertial impaction plays the dominant role in deposition of larger diameter particles at higher flow rates at the upper airways. The present findings improve our insight toward regional distribution and deposition of particles and assists in more accurate prediction of particle transport for drug delivery