Teratogenic effects of gabapentin on the skeletal system of Balb/C mice fetuses

Objectives: To evaluate the effects of gabapentin )GBP( administration on mice fetuses. Methods: This study was carried out in Birjand University of Medical Sciences during 2008. Thirty Balb/c pregnant mice were divided randomly into 3 groups: 2 experimental groups that received 25 mg/kg )I( and 50 mg/kg )II( of GBP intraperitoneally for the first 15 days of pregnancy, and a control group that received normal saline. External observations of day 18 fetuses and skeleton double staining were performed. Results: Both experimental groups showed similar disorders that can be categorized as the following: 1( decrease of fetal body weight and increase of fetal resorption, 2( macroscopic malformations, and 3( skeletal malformations. Fetal body weights were significantly lower, and fetus resorptions were significantly higher in both treated groups compared to the control group. Macroscopic malformations included exencephaly, limbs defects, brachygnathia, vertebral column deformity, and fetuses with severe retarded growth. Skeletal malformations included delayed ossification, scoliosis, calvaria deformity, and mandibular hypoplasia. Conclusion: This study revealed that GBP can induce previously unreported severe malformations if it is used continuously during the implantation, neurulation, and organogenesis stages of pregnancy. Therefore, it is suggested that great caution should be exercised in using GBP during the early stages of pregnancy until further studies are performed to better understand these effects

Pos Besar, 01000 Kangar, Perlis Malaysia., Development of Pilot Plant for Novel Geopolymer Brick Making Machine

With rapid growing country's development and rose in construction activity, rising demand of building materials and increased construction wastes have encouraged the development of new building materials. Geopolymer based construction materials such as concrete, aggregate, brick and so on are getting good response by the public especially those in the construction and development industries nowadays. Geopolymer bricks making process consume less energy and low cost in term of raw materials and production compared to conventional bricks. It become a nessesity nowadays to provide a machine that produced construction material based on geopolymer that are compatible with geopolymer process that can improved productivity and promote geopoymer construction material to repace convertional construction material. This paper presents the main component, specification and controlling system of the geopolymer brick making machine. This paper also describes the basic operation of the brick produced by using novel geopolymer brick making machine. The capacity production is adequate which has mixing tank capacity of 40 kg per batch with high compaction pressure which is 40 tonne and low curing temperature needed (less than 100 °C) that can produce high quality and environmental friendly brick. The size of the brick produced is 9" x 4" x 2.5" accordance with the standard size based on British Standard BS 3921: 1985

Intertwining the arts and sciences to stimulate a creative mind

From the basic motion of a simple pendulum, which acts as a tool that turns a blank canvas into pure abstract art, this particular concept has been applied to science-related art to showcase its tremendous impact on scientific, psychological and educational fields. The Art and Science Program is a collaborative artistic program between the committees from the Chemical and Energy School of Engineering, UTM, and Sekolah Tun Fatimah (STF), with the aim of examining the impacts of the rotational motion of the pendulum which can generate mesmerizing art on blank mahjong papers. The outcome of the art has been influenced by various factors, such as the viscosity of the paint used, the flowrate of the paint drip, the velocity of the paint-pendulum-modelled dripper, the position of the release point, and the motion of the dripper arising from the resultant force of multiple interacting forces. By showing the interconnections between pendulum motion, gravitational force, potential and kinetic energies, and the fundamentals of fluid dynamics, artistic abstract paintings can be created from the science of mechanics. Intertwining the arts and sciences that has been the main focus of this program can garner greater appreciation, even embraced, as it results in a significant effect on the development of both creative and critical thinking among the participants and committees

The Application of House's (2015) Translation Quality Assessment Model and Venuti's (1995) Theory of Domestication and Foreignization on Two Persian Translations of English Translation of Paolo Coelho's (1992) ALCHEMIST Novel

In this research, two Persian translations of Coelho's ALCHEMIST were studied in the light of Julian House's (2015) theoretical TQA model and Venuti's (1995) theory of domestication and foreignization.  The focus was on comparing differences between the original text and the translated texts, namely, between the English text of ALCHEMIST and its two Persian translations by Hejazi and Jafari, in terms of covert errors and overt errors. To this end, one hundred examples, in the forms of phrases or sentences were examined and compared with their equivalent translations. The inductive method and comparative strategy were employed as the methodology to examine the hypothesis of this research. The results revealed that two Persian translations of ALCHEMIST had a roughly close percentage of errors. Namely, Hejazi's translation comprised 66.35 percent covert and domesticated, and Jafari incorporated52.82 percent. Also, the overt errors in Hejazi's translation comprised 14.72 percent overt and foreignized and Jafari incorporated 32.5 percent. One of the errors observed in both translations was incorrect translation. As a result, Hejazi's translation is reported of better quality than Jafari's translation

Effect on solvent polarity and concentration on the photo transformation of 6-nitro BIPS

Polar and non-polar solvents; ethanol and toluene respectively were used to dissolve and investigate the photochromism behavior of 6-nitro BIPS at different solvent concentration. Absorption spectra of 6-nitro BIPS in low concentration solvent were arising to absorption peak of 530nm and 600nm after UV irradiation for ethanol and toluene respectively. At high concentration solvent of 6-nitro BIPS, the absorption spectra did not present any changes on absorption peak after UV irradiation whereas the absorption peak was remains at 530nm for ethanol and no absorption peak appeared for toluene. Shifting of 6-nitro BIPS wavelength spectrum from 530nm for dilution in ethanol to 600nm for dilution in toluene in low concentration solvent was observed and investigated

Compare of the effect of doxepin and citerizine in treatment of allergic rhinitis

Abstract Background: Allergic rhinitis is a common disease which is present in 20% of general population. Major symptoms include sneezing, rhinorrhea, nasal congestion, and nasal pruritus. It seems that tricyclic antidepressants blocking histamine receptors may be used as an effective treatment in allergic rhinitis. Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial study, 84 patients with allergic rhinitis entered the study and randomly divided into two groups. Patients of 1st group received cetirizine and 2nd group received doxepin for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks patients were evaluated about sneezing, rhinorrhea, nasal congestion, and nasal pruritus. Results: The results of our study showed that clinical score of patients after 2 weeks was not different in both groups (p=0.261). The only symptom that was affected by the kind of treatment and was significantly different between groups was sneezing (p=0.005). Conclusion: It seems that there is not much difference in using cetirizine and doxepin in treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis sympotoms. It is recommended that future studies use TCAs with more potent blocking anti-histamine receptors feature and on more samples