A review on the role of inositol in aquaculture

Inositol is usually classified as an essential vitamin for most animals, and is recognised as a part of the B-complex vitamins. Among all other inositol isomer forms, myo-inositol possesses biological activity. It is found in the brain, skeletal, heart, and main reproductive tissues and exists as a structural component of phosphatidylinositol in biological cell membranes. Myo-inositol, also acts as a growth factor and affects the antioxidant capacity and oxidative status of cells. It is a major intracellular osmolyte that can be accumulated to protect cells from a variety of stresses and can also participate in transmembrane signal transfer. Myo-inositol is synthesised by various animal tissues and microorganisms in gut and fulfills the requirement for a few fish species. However, the supply of inositol by exogenous source (the diet) is required in most fish and shrimp for preventing deficiency signs such as inefficiency in digestion and food utilization, poor growth, fin erosion, dark skin colouration, and high accumulation of lipid in liver and muscle. The current paper aimed to provide a review on the published studies on the role of inositol in aquaculture

Multi-Scale joints roughness characterization using wavelet and shear modeling

Mechanical behavior prediction of rock joints is very important in the rock mechanics. Many models have been proposed to predict the mechanical behavior of joints at which lack of correct evaluation of effective roughness coefficient has been the most important shortage. In this research, each of the upper and lower profiles of joint surfaces is considered as a 2-dimensional wave. Then, multi-scale decomposition based on wavelet theory has been applied studying on asperities. Upper and lower profiles have been combined to produce a composite surface having asperities characteristics of both joint surfaces. Each of the composed wave components (roughness and undulation) has been characterized with statistical quantity of arithmetic mean deviation (Ra). This procedure of characterizing for 2-dimensional waves has been easily extended to 3-dimensional joint surfaces. Conformity in the results of shear and dilation modeling and laboratory tests satisfactorily verifies success of the proposed procedure

Prevalence and Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern of E. coli Isolated from Urinary Tract Infection in Patients with Renal Failure Disease and Renal Transplant Recipients

Purpose: To determine the common uropathogens found in patients with urinary tract infections and to assess their antibiotic susceptibility patterns.Methods: The prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of E. coli in urinary tract infection inpatients with renal failure disease and renal transplant recipients (group 1) and in outpatients (group 2), admitted in/attending Imam Reza Hospital in Tabriz, Iran, were determined. Isolates were analyzed by standard methods, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method.Results: A total of 136 E. coli strains from 81 females and 55 males were examined. The high level of antibiotic susceptibility for group 1 was cefuroxime/ceftazidime (100 %) and nitrofurantoin (81.63 %), respectively; and for group 2, it was ampicillin (95.83 %) and nitrofurantoin (93.75 %), respectively.Conclusion: The most important finding of this study is that a considerable proportion of the studied E. coli isolates are resistant to the antibiotics tested, except nitrofurantoin. This finding is useful for clinicians to determine appropriate empirical antimicrobial treatment in similar cases and would also help health authorities to formulate antibiotic prescription policies.Keywords: Urinary tract infection, Antibiotic susceptibility pattern, Uropathogens, Renal failure, Renal transplant, Escherichia col

Hidden scale invariance in the Gay-Berne model. II. Smectic B phase

This paper complements a previous study of the isotropic and nematic phases of the Gay-Berne liquid-crystal model [Mehri et al., Phys. Rev. E 105, 064703 (2022)] with a study of its smectic B phase found at high density and low temperatures. We find also in this phase strong correlations between the virial and potential-energy thermal fluctuations, reflecting hidden scale invariance and implying the existence of isomorphs. The predicted approximate isomorph invariance of the physics is confirmed by simulations of the standard and orientational radial distribution functions, the mean-square displacement as a function of time, as well as the force, torque, velocity, angular velocity, and orientational time-autocorrelation functions. The regions of the Gay-Berne model that are relevant for liquid-crystal experiments can thus fully be simplified via the isomorph theory

Stereotypes of Women and Men Across Gender Subgroups

In this paper, we argue for the value of studying gender stereotypes at the subgroup level, combining insights from the stereotype content model, social role theory, and intersectional perspectives. Empirically, we investigate the stereotype content of gender subgroups in Norway, a cultural context for which a systematic description of stereotypes of gender subgroups is lacking. In a pilot study (n = 60), we established salient subgroups within the Norwegian context. Employing the stereotype content model, these groups were rated on warmth and competence in a main study (n = 191). Combining social role and intersectional perspectives, we compared stereotypes of women and men in the same social roles and social categories across subgroups. Comparisons between subgroups of women and men occupying the same social role indicated that at the subgroup level, women are often viewed as warmer than men, whereas the reverse appears to be a rare exception. Competence ratings, however, did not show this consistency. Our results at the subgroup level are consistent with research indicating that current gender stereotypes converge on constructs related to the competence dimension and remain divergent for constructs related to warmth.publishedVersio

Trends, determinants and the implications of population aging in Iran

Fertility and mortality decline are major drivers of Iran's population aging. A rapid and sharp fall in fertility rates over the past three decades as well as a substantial rise in life expectancy are causing rapid aging of Iran’s population. The present paper uses the 2015 United Nations Population Division data to discuss the trends, determinants and the implications of population aging in Iran. According to the medium fertility variant, people age 60 and older will represent 31 percent (almost 29 million people) of Iran’s population by 2050. The population age 65 and older is projected to be 22 percent (more than 20 million) and that of aged 80 and older 3.8 percent (around 3.5 million) in 2050, that are almost four-times the corresponding figures in 2015. Data on the speed of population aging show that Iran is the second fastest aging cou

The effects of traffic noise on drivers' cognitive performance

Background and aims: Traffic noise is one of the most important environmental pollutants. World health organization has determined the health effects of community noise including cognitive performance disorders. The aim of this research was to study the effects of road traffic noise on peripheral perception and choice reaction time performance drivers. Methods: Thirty five male students from the faculty of health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, participated in the study. Peripheral perception and reaction time tests from Vienna test system package in the case of exposure to traffic and silent conditions were performed. The main variables of this research were field of vision, tracking deviation, incorrect reactions, omitted reactions, mean mental reaction time and mean motor time. Road traffic noise was recorded from main streets of Tehran by Sony ICD MAX20 voice recorder, and was played back in an acoustic room. Results: Comparison of result of peripheral perception after exposure to traffic noise showed slight difference in field of vision (p=0.85), tracking deviation (p=0.59), incorrect reaction (p=0.42) and omitted reactions (p=0.57), but they were not statistically significant. Also no significant differences were observed in mean mental reaction time (p=0.47) and mean motor time (p=0.49). Conclusion: Results of this study show that peripheral perception and choice reaction time variables were not affected by traffic noise. © 2015, Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services. All rights reserved

Research paper: Comparing the diadochokinetic rate in farsi-speaking young and older adults

Objectives: Speech Diadochokinesis (DDK) is defined as the ability to produce repetitive and fast speech movements. This study aimed at comparing the DDK rate between Farsi-speaking young and older adults. Methods: In this study, 244 normal adults (122 males and 122 females) were divided into two groups of young people (20-49 years) and elderly (50-69 years). DDK tasks was performed based on two ways: the participant was asked to produce /pa/,/ta/,/ka/,/pata/,/paka/,/taka/, and /pataka/ sounds in 5 s; and to repeat single syllable sounds (/pa/,/ta/,/ka/) 20 times, two syllables sounds (/pata/,/paka/,/taka/) 15 times, and a three syllables sound (/pataka/) ten times, separately and quickly. The independent T-test, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation were used for data analysis. Results: The results indicated a significant negative and weak correlation between age and all syllables in the specified time (range:-0.139 to-0.254), and a positive and weak correlation between age and time with respect to the repetition of all syllables (range: 0.121 to 0.245). There was no significant difference between genders in both ways (P>0.05). Discussion: The results indicated different DDK rate between the young and elderly subjects that can be used as a benchmark for the diagnosis of disabled individuals in producing repetitive and fast oral movements and also as a basis for clinical assessments. © 2020 University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences

Application of Pseudo-Hermitian Quantum Mechanics to a Complex Scattering Potential with Point Interactions

We present a generalization of the perturbative construction of the metric operator for non-Hermitian Hamiltonians with more than one perturbation parameter. We use this method to study the non-Hermitian scattering Hamiltonian: H=p^2/2m+\zeta_-\delta(x+a)+\zeta_+\delta(x-a), where \zeta_\pm and a are respectively complex and real parameters and \delta(x) is the Dirac delta function. For regions in the space of coupling constants \zeta_\pm where H is quasi-Hermitian and there are no complex bound states or spectral singularities, we construct a (positive-definite) metric operator \eta and the corresponding equivalent Hermitian Hamiltonian h. \eta turns out to be a (perturbatively) bounded operator for the cases that the imaginary part of the coupling constants have opposite sign, \Im(\zeta_+) = -\Im(\zeta_-). This in particular contains the PT-symmetric case: \zeta_+ = \zeta_-^*. We also calculate the energy expectation values for certain Gaussian wave packets to study the nonlocal nature of \rh or equivalently the non-Hermitian nature of \rH. We show that these physical quantities are not directly sensitive to the presence of PT-symmetry.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figure