Effects of Electromagnetic Waves Emitted by Mobile Phones on Male Fertility

With the increase use of cell phones, there are possible interactions of electromagnetic radiation hazard on human beings and their offspring. The recent upsurges of global interest of cell phone have created a fresh impetus on the development of natural disaster, which may or may not lead to cancer or birth defects. The objective of the biological evaluation is to find out the potential of cell phone on sperm cells having some new unknown effects. While thermal effects at the present level of cell phone radiation are negligible, most of the biological interactions are attributed to non-thermal effects. Male reproductive system is highly compartmentalized and sensitive biological system that requires the integration of intrinsic and extrinsic factors to properly function. The generated electrical currents may alter the hormonal milieu and testicular microenvironment, necessary for sperm production. Additionally, sperm are electrically active cells and their exposure to cell phone electromagnetic waves and currents may affect their motility, morphology and even their count. Leaky plasma membranes, calcium depletion and oxidative stress are the postulated cellular mechanisms mediating the harmful effects of cell phones radiation on sperm and male fertility potentials. Evidences for such impacts come from designed animal and in vitro studies which may be different from in vivo human exposure. Nevertheless, the important advice is to apply strict regulations on further increase in the power density of the emitted cell phone radiation and to conduct in vivo human research to study its negative effects on fertility.   Key words:   Cell phone, electromagnetic waves, male infertility, sperm

Thermal Ignition Analysis in the Laminar Boundary Layer Behind a Propagating Shock Front

Asymptotic analysis in the limit of large activation energy is performed to investigate the ignition of a reactive gas in the laminar boundary layer behind a propagating shock front. The study is based on a one-step, irreversible Arrhenius reaction of a premixed gas; therefore, the ignition phenomenon is thermally induced. The boundary layer consists of a thin, diffusive, reaction region at the point where the temperature is maximum and diffusive-convective non-reacting regions adjacent to the reacting region. Both adiabatic and isothermal boundary conditions are examined. For the adiabatic wall, the reaction zone is near the insulated boundary. The reaction zone is in the interior for the isothermal wall. The effects of various parameters on the non-dimensional ignition distance and the ignition point are investigated. It is found that the ignition distance decreases almost linearly with the Mach number for both the adiabatic and the isothermal wall cases. In the isothermal wall case with fixed Mach number, the non-dimensional ignition point decreases linearly with the surface temperature, and the non-dimensional ignition distance has a minimum as the surface temperature varies. Since the kinetic energy of the supersonic flow is converted into thermal energy through viscous heating in the boundary layer, the dependence of the viscosity on temperature is of particular importance. Sutherland\u27s temperature-viscosity law is used in this research since it is a better approximation and provides a more rapid variation of viscosity with respect to temperature than the linear temperature-viscosity law. Use of the Sutherland\u27s temperature-viscosity law results in coupled momentum and energy equations that are analyzed accordingly. Im, Bechtold and Law (10) did not account for the effects of the shock and used the linear temperature-viscosity law resulting in uncoupled momentum and energy equations. All four cases--Sutherland\u27s law with shock, linear law with shock, Sutherland\u27s law without shock, and linear law without shock--are considered for comparison

Identifying Some Roots of Frontline Employee Attitude in Market Orientation

Abstract Though, various organisational outcomes are purported to result from market orientation in developed countries, very little or no such research has been focused on understanding the complex relationship between market orientation and frontline employee attitude towards customers in a developing country like India. In order to plug the gap the present study has been conducted in Indian service sector with samples from its two prestigious banks. The study that matches perceptions from both the frontline employees and their customers reveals that the elements of market orientation like market intelligence generation, market intelligence dissemination, and market intelligence responsiveness  exert its impact on frontline employee attitude or what is generally known as functional qualifications in service marketing literature and consequently effects customers’ evaluation. Conclusions and discussion of the study are drawn, and finally the implications of the study for practitioners have also been discussed.&nbsp

An analysis of research productivity in Saudi Arabia and Iran

Aim/Purpose Education is vital as it is a major investment in human capital. Tertiary education, in particular, contributes to the growth of knowledge and advances skills, which helps in the development of a country. This paper aims to look at the research and technological output at the tertiary level in Saudi Arabia and Iran. Background Saudi Arabia and Iran have an aspiration for leadership in the Islamic world and have been fighting for regional domination. Providing an overview of their tertiary education in these countries could be used to understand where the countries stand in their social and economic aspirations, especially when their economies move from oil to knowledge-based. Methodology To achieve the objective of the study, qualitative thematic analysis was done on secondary data extracted from the official websites of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Contribution The data suggest that Iran has a higher research output and development at the tertiary level than Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia needs to focus on its research output to achieve its social and economic aspiration to move to a knowledge economy. Findings The findings reveal that while Iran has a much larger tertiary system than Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia spends a higher percentage of its GDP on education (5.14%) than Iran (2.92%) and has a higher student-instructor ratio (19.85%) than Iran (15.26%). Despite less investment in education, Iran has published more articles (38,299) and filed more patents (14,279) than Saudi Arabia, which has fewer published articles (15,509) and patents filed (2406)

Comparison of thoracic vs lumbar spinal anaesthesia fo orthopaedic surgeries

Background: Thoracic spinal anaesthesia has emerged as one of the most promising anaesthetic techniques in the recent times. On the other hand, lumbar approach has been the conventional choice  for orthopaedic surgeries since the advent of spinal anaesthesia. This study aimed at determining which approach is better suited for orthopaedic surgeries.Methods: Total 60 patients scheduled for orthopaedic surgeries were divided into two groups : group T and group L. Group T patients were given thoracic  spinal anaesthesia at the T9-T10 / T10-T11 interspace using  1.5 ml of hyperbaric bupivacaine 0.5% (5 mg/ml) + 25µg (0.5 ml) of fentanyl.  Group L patients received  2.5 ml of  hyperbaric bupivacaine 0.5% (5 mg/ml) + 25 µg (0.5 ml) of fentanyl at LI-L2/L2-L3 interspace. Authors evaluated the degree of analgesia  and  motor block,  haemodynamics  and neurological complications.Results: Onset of analgesia was faster in thoracic group - 2min. The duration of sensory  and motor block was shorter in thoracic group. There were no significant differences in haemodynamic variables and respiratory parameters between the two groups  and no neurological complication in any patient.Conclusions: Thoracic spinal anaesthesia is preferable to lumbar spinal anaesthesia for orthopaedic surgeries.

Calculation of SAR and Measurement of Temperature Change of Human Head Due To The Mobile Phone Waves At Frequencies 900 MHz and 1800 MHz

Today, cell phone technology is an integral part of everyday life and its use is not only restricted to voice conversations but also conveying news, high resolution pictures and internet. As the number of mobile phone usage increased exponentially nowadays, issues related to the electromagnetic radiation produce by mobile phone is becoming a big concern in the society. Mobile phone produced electromagnetic waves  and when placed near the ear skull, will produce electromagnetic radiation so called thermal effect. The transfer of electromagnetic field to the body producing thermal effect leads to heating of body tissue at specific rate. This effect is differ depending on the period of time the mobile phone being used  and type of mobile phone. This paper discussed on the result of thermal distribution generated by handheld mobile phone towards human head via collection of image from thermal imaging camera. The analysis is conducted  in an anechoic chamber with average of 45 minutes talking hour with two different types of mobile phone, internal and external antenna serving different radio frequency range, 900 MHz and 1800 MHz . The results showed an increased of heat especially at the place near the ear skull after 45 minutes of operation. When comparing both different types of mobile phone, mobile phone with external antenna produce more heat compared to mobile phone with internal antenna. Key words: Electromagnetic Radiation of  900 MHz and 1800 MHz Frequencies , Handheld Device, Thermal Effect, Non Thermal Effec

An Unusual Case of Gallbladder Carcinoma with Pseudopancreatic Cyst

Generally, carcinoma of the gallbladder is an extremely unusual neoplasm, however, high incidence rates have been reported in certain parts of the world. The role of certain factors such as genetic susceptibility, lifestyle and infections of gallbladder in causing carcinogenesis is still not clearly understood. Due to its early vague symptoms and lack of serosa in the gallbladder to slow its spread, gallbladder carcinoma typically presents at an advanced stage with a five-year survival rate of less than 5%. Pseudopancreatic cyst is an uncommon but not a rare complication of acute pancreatitis and injury to the pancreas. However, it rarely presents with carcinoma of gallbladder. We present here an unusual case of gallbladder carcinoma with pseudopancreatic cyst in a 58-year old male

Sacred groves: the gene banks of threatened and ethnomedicinal flora, associated taboos and role in biodiversity conservation in the Peer Panchal range of North Western Himalayas, India

Sacred groves are the traditionally managed small or large patches of relict vegetation conserved on religious beliefs and representing the climax vegetation. These sacred patches have some set of traditional rules or protocols called taboos, which are key to the conservation of the sacred groves and the diversity within. Interestingly, every sacred grove has its legends, myths, taboos, and lores which are an integral part of the sacred groves. Sacred groves act as a gene bank for the threatened and endemic flora and fauna diversity, which are either diminishing from the open forest areas are somewhere some species get cleared however, these are still found in good numbers in the sacred groves. The sacred forests are the powerhouse of important ethnomedicinal flora, and several important medicinal plants are housed in these sacred patches. In the Peer Panchal region, these sacred patches play a pivotal role in the conservation of vegetation, however, in the present era of modernity and development, these sacred patches are facing high anthropogenic pressure due to the erosion of traditional knowledge and beliefs, leading to high rate of deteriorations of these life savior patches of forests. The present work reviews the sacred groves in the Peer Panchal region of Northwestern Himalayas, intending to highlight their role in maintaining a balance in our ecosystem and the need to recognize their values and the proper need for the conservation of these life-savior patches of forests