Effect of Early Post Cesarean Feeding on Gastrointestinal Complications

Background: Gastrointestinal complications are the main complication in patients after cesarean section. Previous studies have reported different results about the effect of early post cesarean feeding on vomiting, nausea, flatulence and illus. Objectives: To identify the effect of early post cesarean feeding on gastrointestinal complications. Materials and Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted on 82 women who underwent cesarean section in Mashhad Omolbanin hospital. They were randomly assigned to two equal experimental and control groups. The experimental group started oral fluids four hours after surgery, followed by a regular diet after bowel sounds returned. Mothers in the control group received fluid intravenously during the initial 12 hours, and then if bowel sounds were heard, they were permitted to receive oral fluids and they could start a solid diet if they had defecation. Vomiting and flatulence were assessed with a visual analog scale. Nausea was assessed with an observation questionnaire and illus was assessed via bowel sounds, gas passing and defecation 4, 12, 24, 36 and 48, hours post surgery in the two groups. Also, they were studied for the time of gas passing, bowel sound return, defecation, sitting, walking and breast-feeding. Data were analyzed using the chi-square, Fisher's exact test, t-test and Man-Whitney U test. Results: No mother experienced nausea, vomiting and illus. Flatulence severity 4 and 12 hours after surgery was similar in both groups (P = 0.856, P = 0.392). However, flatulence severity 24, 36 and 48 hours after surgery, was less in the experimental group (P = 0.030, P = 0.016, P = 0.001). Also, bowel sound return, time of gas passing, defecation, sitting and walking were less in the experimental group (P = 0.001). Conclusion: This study showed that early feeding decreased post cesarean gastrointestinal complications

Influence of water stress on morpho-physiological and phytochemical traits in Thymus daenensis.

Abstract Thymus daenensis is a medicinal plant endemic to semi-arid regions of Iran. A field experiment using a randomized complete block design with four replications was conducted to evaluate the effect of 20, 50 and 80% soil water depletion on morpho-physiological traits, essential oil content and composition and water use efficiency of T. daenensis during 2010-2011. Water stress reduced growth, herbage production, chlorophyll and carotenoid content, while increased proline, K + , essential oil content and irrigation water use efficiency based on essential oil yield (IWUE eso ). Thymol was the highest essential oil composition (63.3-73.5%) followed by carvacrol (3.6-16.0%), ρ-cymene (3.8-7.4%), γ-terpinene (3.3-4.7%), β-caryophyllene (2.8-4.0%) and borneol (1.4-3.4%), respectively. Thymol, ρ-cymene and γ-terpinene were increased, while the other compositions decreased under water stress. It is concluded that irrigation of T. daenensis based on 50% water depletion should be an appropriate choice for first growing season and 80% water depletion for the second growing season in semi-arid climatic conditions

Nitrate and nitrite accumulation in tomato and potato in Ardabil province

The research was conducted to determine the residual nitrite and nitrate on potatoes and tomatoes, two commercially important vegetables in Ardabil province. Samples of these plants were collected randomly from farms and wholesale markets in 10 day intervals at harvesting time in three sites (Ardabil, Parsabad and Meshkin Shahr) during 2004 and 2005. The samples were analyzed for residual nitrate and nitrite using spectroscopic method. The results revealed that in 10% of potato samples nitrate concentration was more than acceptable level (465 – 519.3 mg/kg fresh weight). Nitrite residue in potatoes ranged from 0.1 to 1.12 mg/kg. The nitrite and nitrate concentrations of 83.4% and 33% of tomato samples were lower than detecting limit of the methods. The amount of nitrate in tomato samples of Meshghin shahr was 20 fold lowers than Parsabads region that probably resulted from higher nitrogen fertilizers application in this region

A SWOT analysis for offshore wind energy assessment using remote-sensing potential

The elaboration of a methodology for accurately assessing the potentialities of blue renewable energy sources is a key challenge among the current energy sustainability strategies all over the world. Consequentially, many researchers are currently working to improve the accuracy of marine renewable assessment methods. Nowadays, remote sensing (RSs) satellites are used to observe the environment in many fields and applications. These could also be used to identify regions of interest for future energy converter installations and to accurately identify areas with interesting potentials. Therefore, researchers can dramatically reduce the possibility of significant error. In this paper, a comprehensive SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis is elaborated to assess RS satellite potentialities for offshore wind (OW) estimation. Sicily and Sardinia-the two biggest Italian islands with the highest potential for offshore wind energy generation-were selected as pilot areas. Since there is a lack of measuring instruments, such as cup anemometers and buoys in these areas (mainly due to their high economic costs), an accurate analysis was carried out to assess the marine energy potential from offshore wind. Since there are only limited options for further expanding the measurement over large areas, the use of satellites makes it easier to overcome this limitation. Undoubtedly, with the advent of new technologies for measuring renewable energy sources (RESs), there could be a significant energy transition in this area that requires a proper orientation of plans to examine the factors influencing these new technologies that can negatively affect most of the available potential. Satellite technology for identifying suitable areas of wind power plants could be a powerful tool that is constantly increasing in its applications but requires good planning to apply it in various projects. Proper planning is only possible with a better understanding of satellite capabilities and different methods for measuring available wind resources. To this end, a better understanding in interdisciplinary fields with the exchange of updated information between different sectors of development, such as universities and companies, will be most effective. In this context, by reviewing the available satellite technologies, the ability of this tool to measure the marine renewable energies (MREs) sector in large and small areas is considered. Secondly, an attempt is made to identify the strengths and weaknesses of using these types of tools and techniques that can help in various projects. Lastly, specific scenarios related to the application of such systems in existing and new developments are reviewed and discussed

Natural gas-fueled multigeneration for reducing environmental effects of brine and increasing product diversity: thermodynamic and economic analyses

Water scarcity threatens human life and it is likely to be a main concern in the next century. In this work, a novel multigeneration system (MGS) is introduced and assessed with energy, exergy, and economic analyses. This MGS includes a gas cycle, multieffect distillation, an absorption refrigeration cycle, a heat recovery steam generator, and electrodialysis. Electrodialysis is integrated into this configuration to produce sodium hydroxide and hydrogen chloride from brine to prevent its release to the environment with harmful impacts. The other products are electricity, cooling, and demineralized water. For the evaluation of the proposed system, one computer code is provided in engineering equation solver software. For physical properties calculation, the library of this software is used. The MGS produces 614.7 GWh of electrical energy, 87.44 GWh of cooling, 12.47 million m3 of demineralized water, and 0.092 and 0.084 billion kg of sodium hydroxide and hydrogen chloride over a year. Energy and exergy evaluations demonstrate that the MGS energy and exergy efficiencies are 31.3% and 18.7%, respectively. The highest and lowest value of exergy destruction rate is associated with the combustion chamber and pump, respectively. The economic evaluation indicates that the net present value of this proposed system is 3.8 billion US$, while the internal rate of return and payback period, respectively, are 0.49 and 2.1 years.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Investigating Smart City Development Based on Green Buildings, Electrical Vehicles and Feasible Indicators

With a goal of achieving net-zero emissions by developing Smart Cities (SCs) and industrial decarbonization, there is a growing desire to decarbonize the renewable energy sector by accelerating green buildings (GBs) construction, electric vehicles (EVs), and ensuring long-term stability, with the expectation that emissions will need to be reduced by at least two thirds by 2035 and by at least 90% by 2050. Implementing GBs in urban areas and encouraging the use of EVs are cornerstones of transition towards SCs, and practical actions that governments can consider to help with improving the environment and develop SCs. This paper investigates different aspects of smart cities development and introduces new feasible indicators related to GBs and EVs in designing SCs, presenting existing barriers to smart cities development, and solutions to overcome them. The results demonstrate that feasible and achievable policies such as the development of the zero-energy, attention to design parameters, implementation of effective indicators for GBs and EVs, implementing strategies to reduce the cost of production of EVs whilst maintaining good quality standards, load management, and integrating EVs successfully into the electricity system, are important in smart cities development. Therefore, strategies to governments should consider the full dynamics and potential of socio-economic and climate change by implementing new energy policies on increasing investment in EVs, and GBs development by considering energy, energy, techno-economic, and environmental benefits

The key role of clean energy and technology in smart cities development

Humanity is currently facing immense challenges related to the reduction of CO2 emissions and satisfying energy demand whilst mitigating environmental impacts, hence, developing smart cities is one of the most important goals for every country. This paper presents a comprehensive discussion on smart city development across successful cities including London, Singapore, Barcelona, New York, Melbourne, Amsterdam, Dubai, and Helsinki, highlighting the importance of appropriate policies in overcoming barriers and creating solutions with regard to the importance of clean energy in each section. This paper focuses on three sectors: Energy, Transport, and Buildings. This research aims to illustrate fruitful pathways for smart city development based on these successful cities in using appropriate policies and strategies to overcome the relative hurdles often limiting these three important sectors in improving and achieving the necessary development for smart city status. Additionally, the stakeholder cooperation with the local government has a prominent role in carrying and executing the ideas of the politicians and the energy experts for more utilization of clean energy in different sections as a proper policy in smart city development

Metarhodopsin control by arrestin, light-filtering screening pigments, and visual pigment turnover in invertebrate microvillar photoreceptors

The visual pigments of most invertebrate photoreceptors have two thermostable photo-interconvertible states, the ground state rhodopsin and photo-activated metarhodopsin, which triggers the phototransduction cascade until it binds arrestin. The ratio of the two states in photoequilibrium is determined by their absorbance spectra and the effective spectral distribution of illumination. Calculations indicate that metarhodopsin levels in fly photoreceptors are maintained below ~35% in normal diurnal environments, due to the combination of a blue-green rhodopsin, an orange-absorbing metarhodopsin and red transparent screening pigments. Slow metarhodopsin degradation and rhodopsin regeneration processes further subserve visual pigment maintenance. In most insect eyes, where the majority of photoreceptors have green-absorbing rhodopsins and blue-absorbing metarhodopsins, natural illuminants are predicted to create metarhodopsin levels greater than 60% at high intensities. However, fast metarhodopsin decay and rhodopsin regeneration also play an important role in controlling metarhodopsin in green receptors, resulting in a high rhodopsin content at low light intensities and a reduced overall visual pigment content in bright light. A simple model for the visual pigment–arrestin cycle is used to illustrate the dependence of the visual pigment population states on light intensity, arrestin levels and pigment turnover