Determining the lethal concentration (LC50 96h) of butachlor herbicide for Acipenser persicus and Acipenser stellatus fingerlings

The toxic effects of the herbicide Butachlor were studied using a concentration of 0.4-1.3ppm and 0/1-1ppm on fingerlings of the Persian sturgeon, Acipenser persicus, and Stellatus sturgeon, Acipenser stellatus, respectively in 1999. We carried out six treatments with three replicates and used one control based on the static O.E.C. D. method. Over the experiments, pH ranged between 6.7 -8.2, total hardness was measured to be 230 mg/l, water temperature was 20 plus or minus 1 degrees centigrade and dissolved oxygen was above 6 mg/l. We found that the LC50 96h of the Butachlor on fingerlings of the Persian sturgeon, Acipenser persicus, and Stellatus sturgeon, Acipenser stellatus, weighing 1-3 grams was 0.44 and 0.07 mg/l respectively. Also assessed the LC10, LC50, LC90 of the herbicide on the fingerlings of the sturgeons using the Probit Analysis procedure. We determined the maximum allowable concentration of the Butachlor herbicide for the fingerlings of the Persian sturgeons, Acipenser persicus, and Stellatus sturgeons, Acipenser stellatus, to be 0.044 and 0.007 mg/l. Based on the standards, the herbicide is considered highly toxic for the studied fingerlings

Malnutrition risk questionnaire combined with body composition measurement in malnutrition screening in inflammatory bowel disease.

The purpose of malnutrition screening is to predict the probability of a worse outcome due to nutritional factors. The Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) can be used for screening in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); however, it does not provide details about body composition. Our aim was to assess the body composition and combine this with the MUST method to screen risk of malnutrition and sarcopenia. A total of 173 IBD outpatients were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. The MUST scale indicated 21.4% of IBD patients to be at risk of malnutrition. A risk of sarcopenia was detected in 27.7%. However, one third of these patients were not considered to be at risk by their MUST score. Furthermore, Crohn's disease (CD) patients had a strongly unfavorable fat-free mass index (FFMI) value compared to ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, and these differences were significant among men (FFMI: 18.62 +/- 2.16 vs 19.85 +/- 2.22, p = 0.02, in CD and UC males, respectively). As sarcopenia is a relevant prognostic factor, the MUST method should be expanded to include body composition analysis to detect more IBD patients at risk of malnutrition and sarcopenia in order to start their nutritional therapy immediately

Nanoparticle-stabilized microemulsions for enhanced oil recovery from heterogeneous rocks

Surfactant-stabilized microemulsions (MEs) are often used to reduce the capillary forces responsible for trapping residual oil inside rocks. Recent studies showed that the presence of nanoparticles (NPs) in ME could enhance oil recovery, however their interfacial interactions and the impact of rock characteristics is still unclear. The objective of this study was to understand the effect of microemulsions stabilized by nanoparticles (MENP) on pore-scale fluid displacement mechanisms in a heterogeneous rock such as Arkose. A novel method was developed to synthesize silicon oxide in-situ in a ME. These nanoparticles had less tendency to agglomerate compared to nanopowders and promoted the formation of Pickering emulsions. The impact of ME and MENP on oil displacement in Arkose was examined using microtomography integrated with miniature core flooding. Aged cores were subjected to flooding with different aqueous solutions to investigate the effectiveness of ME and MENP in enhancing oil recovery. We found that ME promoted oil mobilization by reducing IFT and enhancing emulsification. The ability of ME to solubilize adsorbed oil layers contributed to a wettability alteration from oil-wet to weakly water-wet. Therefore, ME could remove 20.0% of additional oil after waterflooding. The incremental oil removal with MENP compared to waterflooding (34.3%) was higher than that of ME due to the emulsification of oil into even smaller droplets where NPs and surfactants synergistically interacted at the interface. The small oil droplets could penetrate small capillary elements of the rock that were inaccessible to ME, leading to stronger wettability alteration especially in carbonate cement

Pore-scale dynamics of nanofluid-enhanced NAPL displacement in carbonate rock

This study presents a pore-scale investigation of two-phase flow dynamics during nanofluid flooding in subsurface formations containing non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) such as crude oils. The goal was to gain fundamental understanding of the dominant displacement mechanisms of NAPL at different stages of nanofluid injection in a carbonate rock using x-ray microtomography integrated with a miniature core-flooding system. The nanofluid consisted of surfactant-based microemulsions with in-situ synthesized silica nanoparticles. After establishing its initial wettability state, the carbonate core sample was subjected to various pore volumes (PV) of nanofluid flooding (from 0.5 to 10) to examine the impact on NAPL flow dynamics. We found that most NAPL mobilization occurred within the first PV of injection, removing nearly 50% of NAPL from the rock. The nanofluid invaded into larger pores first due to a sharp decrease in NAPL/brine interfacial tension (from 14 to 0.5 mN/m) and contact angle (from 140 to 88°). With higher amount of nanofluid delivered into the pores through advection, over 90% of NAPL droplets were emulsified and their size decreased from 9 to 3 μm. Subsequent nanofluid injection could further remove NAPL from the smaller pores by altering the thickness of NAPL layers adsorbed on the rock. This dynamic solubilization process reached equilibrium after 5 PV of injection, leading to a reduced layer thickness (from 12 to 0.2 μm), a narrower in-situ contact angle distribution around 81°, and an additional 16% of NAPL removal

Efficacy of biological agents and fillers seed coating in improving drought stress in anise

Many plants, including anise, have tiny, non-uniform seeds with low and light nutrient reserves. The seeds also show a weak establishment, especially under stressful conditions where their accurate planting in the soil and optimal yield are tough. This study sought to improve anise seeds' physical and physiological characteristics under drought stress. To this end, two factorial experiments under laboratory and greenhouse conditions were performed in a completely randomized design with 4 and 3 replications, respectively. Five levels of seed inoculation (inoculation with T36 and T43 of Trichoderma harzianum, and CHA0 and B52 of Pseudomonas fluorescent, and non-inoculation which means that control seeds were not treated with microbial inoculant), three levels of coating (K10P20, K10P10V5, and non-coating), and three levels of drought stress (0, -3, and -6 bars) were considered as the factorial experiment [vermiculite (V), kaolin (K), and perlite (P) numbers refer to the amount of material used in grams]. The laboratory experiment revealed that the combined treatments of bio-agents with coating increased the physical and germination characteristics of anise seeds compared to the control treatment. The greenhouse experiment showed that drought stress reduced the initial growth indices. Still, the combination treatments of biological agents and coating (fillers) could alleviate the destructive effects of drought stress to some extent and improve these indices. The best treatment was provided by T36 and K10P20 in both experiments, which significantly increased morphological indices.Peer reviewe

O-C Study of 545 Lunar Occultations from 13 Double Stars

International audienceIn this article, we have studied the reports of lunar occultations by this project observation's teams (named APTO) in comparison with other observations of the objects. Thirteen binary stars were selected for this study. All the previous observations of these stars were also collected. Finally, an analysis of O-C of all reports were performed

Trend of appendicitis mortality at national and provincial levels in iran from 1990 to 2015

Background: Appendicitis is one of the most preventable causes of death worldwide. We aimed to determine the trend of mortality due to appendicitis by sex and age at national and provincial levels in Iran during 26 years. Methods: Data were collected from Iran Death Registration System (DRS), cemetery databanks in Tehran and Esfahan, and the national population and housing censuses of Iran. The estimated population was determined for each group from 1990 to 2015 using a growth model. Incompleteness, misalignment, and misclassification in the DRS were addressed and multiple imputation methods were used for dealing with missing data. ICD-10 codes were converted to Global Burden of Disease (GBD) codes to allow comparison of the results with the GBD study. A Spatio-Temporal model and Gaussian Process Regression were used to predict the levels and trends in child and adult mortality rates, as well as cause fractions. Results: From 1990 to 2015, 6,982 deaths due to appendicitis were estimated in Iran. The age-standardized mortality rate per 100 000 decreased from 0.72 (95 UI: 0.46-1.12) in 1990 to 0.11 (0.07-0.16) in 2015, a reduction of 84.72 over the course of 26 years. The male: female ratio was 1.13 during the 26 years of the study with an average annual percent change of -2.31 for women and -2.63 for men. Among men and women, appendicitis mortality rate had the highest magnitude of decline in the province of Zanjan and the lowest in the province of Hormozgan. In 1990, the lowest age-standardized appendicitis-related mortality was observed in both women and men in the province of Alborz and the highest mortality rate among men were observed in the province of Lorestan. In 2015, the lowest mortality rates in women and men were in the province of Tehran. The highest mortality rates in women were in Hormozgan, and in men were in Golestan province. Conclusion: The mortality rate due to appendicitis has declined at national and provincial levels in Iran. Understanding the causes of differences across provinces and the trend over years can be useful in priority setting for policy makers to inform preventive actions to further decrease mortality from appendicitis. © 2020 The Author (s)

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

Evaluating mechanism and severity of injuries among trauma patients admitted to Sina Hospital, the National Trauma Registry of Iran

Purpose: Injuries are one of the leading causes of death and lead to a high social and financial burden. Injury patterns can vary significantly among different age groups and body regions. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between mechanism of injury, patient comorbidities and severity of injuries. Methods: The study included trauma patients from July 2016 to June 2018, who were admitted to Sina Hospital, Tehran, Iran. The inclusion criteria were all injured patients who had at least one of the following: hospital length of stay more than 24 h, death in hospital, and transfer from the intensive care unit of another hospital. Data collection was performed using the National Trauma Registry of Iran minimum dataset. Results: The most common injury mechanism was road traffic injuries (49.0), followed by falls (25.5). The mean age of those who fell was significantly higher in comparison with other mechanisms (p < 0.001). Severe extremity injuries occurred more often in the fall group than in the vehicle collision group (69.0 vs. 43.5, p < 0.001). Moreover, cases of severe multiple trauma were higher amongst vehicle collisions than injuries caused by falls (27.8 vs. 12.9, p = 0.003). Conclusion: Comparing falls with motor vehicle collisions, patients who fell were older and sustained more extremity injuries. Patients injured by motor vehicle collision were more likely to have sustained multiple trauma than those presenting with falls. Recognition of the relationship between mechanisms and consequences of injuries may lead to more effective interventions. © 2021 Chinese Medical Associatio

Early cellular signaling responses to axonal injury

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We have used optic nerve injury as a model to study early signaling events in neuronal tissue following axonal injury. Optic nerve injury results in the selective death of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). The time course of cell death takes place over a period of days with the earliest detection of RGC death at about 48 hr post injury. We hypothesized that in the period immediately following axonal injury, there are changes in the soma that signal surrounding glia and neurons and that start programmed cell death. In the current study, we investigated early changes in cellular signaling and gene expression that occur within the first 6 hrs post optic nerve injury.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found evidence of cell to cell signaling within 30 min of axonal injury. We detected differences in phosphoproteins and gene expression within the 6 hrs time period. Activation of TNFα and glutamate receptors, two pathways that can initiate cell death, begins in RGCs within 6 hrs following axonal injury. Differential gene expression at 6 hrs post injury included genes involved in cytokine, neurotrophic factor signaling (Socs3) and apoptosis (Bax).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We interpret our studies to indicate that both neurons and glia in the retina have been signaled within 30 min after optic nerve injury. The signals are probably initiated by the RGC soma. In addition, signals activating cellular death pathways occur within 6 hrs of injury, which likely lead to RGC degeneration.</p