Population dynamics of the Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) in coastal waters of Oman Sea

Length composition data of narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus commerson (Lacepede 1800), landed between April 2002 to March 2004, were monthly used to estimate the growth, mortality and exploitation parameters of the stock. Maximum fork length and weight were 170 cm and 38 kg, respectively. Nonlinear least square fitting provided a complete set of von Bertalanffy growth estimates: L¥=178 cm (FL); K=0.28 and to= -0.36 years. The estimated value of total mortality based on length converted catch curve using these growth parameters is Z=0.95 year-I. Natural mortality based on growth parameters and mean environmental temperature (T=26.5°C) is M=0.36 year-1. Furthermore, the annual instantaneous fishing mortality rate of 0.59 year-1 was by far in excess of the precautionary target (Fopt=0.18 year-1) and limit (Flimit=0.24 year-1) biological reference points, indicating that the resource is heavily over-exploited and the management of this species should be implanted rapidly if they are to remain sustainable

Monitoring of northern climate exposure

Currently, facility managers are faced with many advanced decisions regarding when and how to inspect, maintain, repair or renew existing facilities in a costeffective manner. The evolution of the deteriorations of road structures in reinforced concrete depends on the exposure of the elements to water in liquid form or vapour and to other aggressive agents such as chloride. Current models of ionic transport neglect the effect of real ionic concentration in contact with concrete structures, it means boundary conditions are considered with simple tendency as uniform concentration during the winter period and model parameters are derived from the fitting method. Therefore, it implies in ineffective prediction models of deterioration, i.e. steel rebar corrosion by chloride presence or carbonation, alkali-granular reaction, acid attacks, etc. Structure are sensitive to their environment and their interaction with it is directly related to the processes of deterioration. The degradation of structures exposed to salt-laden mist is faster in the wetter areas. On the contrary, the deterioration of the structures caused by salt spray in the drier zone is slower. The structures, exposed to splashing (precipitation, wind, splash, etc.), have a slower rate of degradation in the wetter regions. The amount of rain has an indirect effect in the process of deterioration of the structure exposed to salt-laden mist because it changes the contact time of chloride on the surface of the structures. For this purpose, a unique exposure monitoring was developed. This mobile station, named MExStUL, contains an atmospheric sensor and new possibilities of chloride detection contained in splashes, mist and static water near the road improving the real exposure of structure and the boundary conditions. First results highlight the real influence of environmental parameters on structures durability on highways. Salt concentration is not uniform during winter period and water thickness demonstrate important periods of drying

Association of sleep duration and snack consumption in children and adolescents: The CASPIAN-V study

Objectives: The relationship between sleep deprivation and the risk of overweight and obesity is somewhat known in children and adolescents. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between sleep duration and eating snacks in a national sample of children and adolescents aged 6�18 years old. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on the data of the fifth survey of the national school-based surveillance system entitled the �Childhood and Adolescence Surveillance and PreventIon of Adult Non-communicable Disease� (CASPIAN-V) study. Short sleeping duration was defined 10 hr per day for children under 10 years and 9 hr per day for children � 10 years. To assess food habits, the consumption frequency of some food groups including sweets, salty snacks, carbonated beverages, diet soft drinks, soft beer, fresh fruits, dried fruits, fresh juices, vegetables, packed juices, dairy products (milk, yogurt, and cheese), fast foods, tea, sugar along with tea, and coffee was asked using Likert scale (never, rarely, weekly, and daily). Results: In multivariate model, short sleep versus long sleep in students was associated with increased chance of eating salty snacks (OR = 1.49 95% CI: 1.38�1.61; p =.001), soft drinks (OR = 1.12 95% CI: 1.04�1.20; p =.002), fast foods (OR = 1.66 95% CI: 1.54�1.79; p <.001), tea (OR = 1.49 95% CI: 1.39�1.61; p <.001), and tea with sugar (OR = 1.13 95% CI: 1.05�1.22; p <.001). In addition, short sleep in students was associated with a decreased odds of daily intake of soft drinks without sugars (OR = 0.64 95% CI: 0.58�0.70; p <.001), soft beer (OR = 0.92 95% CI: 0.85�0.99; p <.001), fresh fruit (OR = 0.83 95% CI: 0.76�0.90; p <.001), dried fruit (OR = 0.43 95% CI: 0.39�0.46; p <.001), fresh fruit juice (OR = 0.66 95% CI: 0.62�0.72; p <.001), packed juice (OR = 0.91 95% CI: 0.84�0.98; p <.009), milk (OR = 0.51 95% CI: 0.47�0.55; p <.001), yogurt (OR = 0.86 95% CI: 0.79�0.93; p �.001), and coffee (OR = 0.82 95% CI: 0.76�0.89; p �.001). Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate a significant relationship between sleep duration and unhealthy food habits. Therefore, increasing awareness of families in this area may reduce obesity and its complications. © 2020 The Authors. Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Association of dietary patterns with continuous metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents; A nationwide propensity score-matched analysis: The CASPIAN-V study

Objective: This study aims to determine the association of dietary patterns with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components in children and adolescents. Methods: This nationwide study was conducted in 2015 among 4200 students aged 7-18 years, who lived in 30 provinces in Iran. The analysis was conducted based on the propensity score using a matched case-control study design. Three dietary patterns were obtained conducting a principal component analysis with a varimax rotation on 16 dietary groups. Continuous MetS score was computed by standardizing the residuals (z-scores) of MetS components by regressing them according to age and sex. The gold standard diagnosis of MetS was considered based on the International Diabetes Federation criteria. Moreover, for the purpose of data analysis, matched logistics analysis was used. Results: The study participants consisted of 3843 children and adolescents (response rate 91.5) with mean (SD) age of 12.45 (3.04) years. Totally 49.4 of students were girls and 71.4 lived in urban areas. Three dietary patterns were obtained: Healthy, Western, and Sweet. Prevalence of MetS was 5 (boy 5.5 and girl 4.5). Results of multivariate analysis show that students with Sweet dietary patterns were at higher risk for abdominal obesity (OR 1.29; 95 CI 1.01-1.66), elevated blood pressure (OR 1.35; 95 CI 1.01-1.81) and MetS (OR 1.33; 95 CI 1.02-1.74). The two other dietary patterns were not associated with MetS and its components. Conclusion: Sweet dietary pattern increase the risk of MetS and some its components in Iranian children and adolescents. This finding provides valuable information for effective preventive strategies of MetS based on diet rather than medication to maintain healthy lifestyle habits. © 2018 The Author(s)

Association between psychosocial distress with cardio metabolic risk factors and liver enzymes in a nationally-representative sample of Iranian children and adolescents: The CASPIAN-III study

Background: The present study was designed to evaluate association of psychosocial distress with cardio metabolic risk factors and liver enzymes in Iranian children and adolescents.Method: This nationwide study was conducted as the third survey of the school-based surveillance system that was conducted among 5593 school students, 10-18 years in Iran. High triglyceride (TG), high fasting blood sugar (FBS), high total cholesterol (TC), high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), hypertension (HTN), generalized obesity and abdominal obesity were considered as cardio metabolic risk factors and alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were considered as liver enzymes. Data were analyzed using multiple logistic regression (MLR) analysis.Result: Psychosocial distress was detected in2027 (71.2) of boys and 1759 (63.3) of girls. Among boys, the mean of LDL, AST and DBP were higher and the mean FBS and HDL were lowering those with psychiatric distress than their other counterparts. Girls with psychosocial distress had significantly higher mean of HDL and FBS than those without psychiatric distress. Psychosocial distress significantly increased the odds of high LDL (OR = 2.36, 95CI 1.53, 3.64), high FBS (OR = 1.23, 95CI 1.02, 1.49) and low HDL (OR = 1.65, 95CI 1.41, 1.95).Conclusion: Psychosocial distress in adolescents is associated with increased risk of some cardio metabolic risk factors. © 2014 Qorbani et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Glomerular hyperfiltration as predictor of cardiometabolic risk factors among children and adolescents: The childhood and adolescence surveillance and prevention of adult�v study

Background: The prevalence of glomerular hyperfiltration and chronic kidney disease is increasing worldwide in parallel with obesity hypertension epidemic. The effect of increases in glomerular filtrations (GFR) in children with metabolic syndrome has not been studied. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between GFR and cardiometabolic risk factors in a large sample of pediatric population. Methods: In this nationwide survey, 3800 participants were selected by cluster random sampling from 30 provinces in Iran. Anthropometric measures, biochemical, and clinical parameters were measured. We also measured estimated GFR (eGFR) using the recently modified Schwartz equations and other known cardiometabolic risk factors such as elevated total cholesterol, high low�density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL�C), and obesity. Results: The response rate was 91.5 (n = 3843). The mean and standard deviation (SD) (Mean ± SD) of eGFR for girls, boys, and total population were 96.71 ± 19.46, 96.49 ± 21.69, and 96.59 ± 20 ml/min/1.73 m2, respectively. Overall, 38.7 of the participants did not have any cardiometabolic risk factor. In multivariate models, the risk of elevated systolic blood pressure (BP) (odds ratio OR: 1.48; 95% confidence interval CI: 1.08-2.02), elevated diastolic BP (OR: 1.48; 95% CI: 1.08-2.02), elevated LDL�C (OR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.07-1.70), and obesity (OR: 1.70; 95%CI: 1.24-2.33) were significantly higher in participants with higher eGFR level than those with the lower level but not with low level of high�density lipoprotein cholesterol (OR: 0.72; 95% CI: 0.60-0.88). Conclusions: This study demonstrates an association between glomerular hyperfiltration and obesity�related hypertension in a large sample of the Iranian pediatric population, independently of other classical risk factors. © 2018 International Journal of Preventive Medicine

Durability of reinforced concrete structures in aggressive marine environment

Civil Engineering and Geoscience

Binding of externally supplied chlorides in micro silica concrete under field exposure conditions

Chloride binding has remarkable influence on the chloride penetration and hence, on the time to corrosion initiation in reinforced concrete structures. Previous studies have mainly looked at the chloride binding from internal sources in laboratory, which is not representative of practical situations. The current work focuses on the chloride binding characteristics of concrete samples exposed to an external source of chlorides from the sea water at Persian Gulf region. Some of the important parameters including w/c ratio, silica fume replacement and effect of chloride concentration on chloride binding were investigated in order to provide insight into the distribution of free and bound chloride ions after a long-term exposure. The results of the current study suggest that the chloride binding capacity increases with increasing the w/c ratio and chloride concentration but decreases by using silica fume. A general equation was also developed correlating the total and bound chloride in order to obtain more accurate service life prediction. \ua9 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

A multicenter survey on the trend of chest CT scan utilization: Tracing the first footsteps of COVID-19 in Iran

Background: Chest computed tomography (CT) scan has been used widely to diagnose COVID-19 in Iran. Objectives: To trace the footsteps of COVID-19 in Iran by exploring the trend in using chest CT scans and its economic impact on radiology departments. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the number of imaging examinations from 33 tertiary radiology departments in 9 large cities of Iran was collected from September 23, 2019 to March 20, 2020 (Months 1 to 6) and the corresponding months in 2018-2019. Results: A 50.2 increase was noted in the chest CT scan utilization in 2019-2020 compared to 2018-2019. This increase was +15, +15, +27, +2, +1 in Months 1-5 of 2019-2020, respectively. In Month 6 of 2019-2020, a 251 increase in the acquisition of chest CT scans was observed compared to the Month 6 of 2018-2019. Following negative balance of revenue from Month 1 to 5 with respect to the inflation rate, the total income in Month 6 was further 1.5 less than the same Month in 2018-19. Conclusion: The observed peak in chest CT utilization in Month 3 prior to the surge in Month 6 could be explained by the seasonal influenza. However, unawareness about an emerging viral disease, i.e. COVID-19, might have underutilized chest CT in Months 4 and 5 before the official announcement in Month 6. The unbalanced increase in the workload of radiology departments in the shortage of cardiothoracic radiologists with the simultaneous decrease in income initiated a vicious cycle that worsened the economic repercussions of the pandemic. © 2020 Academy of Medical Sciences of I.R. Iran. All rights reserved