Stabilizing the Excavation Materials to be used in Fill Layers

Daily increase in the amounts of soil and wastes produced by excavation and demolishing of the old buildings in the urban worn out textures has caused great problems in large cities. The environmental issues due to the irrelevant and non-technical disposal of waste materials have attracted attention of researchers with the aim of recycling and use of these materials in the civil and construction activities. Old buildings constitute a significant portion of Sharestan Razavi Blvd in Mashhad which after demolishing of these buildings the area in this section is covered by the backfill materials and those remained from the demolishing of the buildings. In this research, maximizing use of the available materials and minimizing the transportation work as an execution order have been under focus of attention.  Also through performing various tests, the  possibility of recycling, stabilizing and implementing these materials at underlying layers of Sharestan Razavi Blvd has been evaluated and the results are presented

Effect of Somatic Cell Count on Milk Yield in Diff erent Parities and Stages of Lactation in Holstein Cows of Iran

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between somatic cell score (SCS) and milk yield in different stages of lactation for cows in different parities. Records between June 2003 and January 2014 from 209,781 cows in lactations one to nine in 845 herds, comprising 2,500,407 monthly test-day (TD) records extracted from the animal breeding center, were used. The MIXED procedure of SAS software was used to investigate the effect of SCS on milk yield in different stages of lactation. Defined model considered herd, year-season of calving, month of TD, weeks in lactation and previous dry period length as fixed effects and calving age and SCS as covariate. Lactations were divided into six stages and analyses were performed within each stage. Also, different lactations were analyzed separately. The amount of daily milk yield loss associated with increased SCS was higher with increased number of parity and also later in lactation (especially after peak in week nine). The regression coefficient for milk yield on SCS was -0.539 to -0.635 in different stages of lactation in first parity cows, while that was between -0.777 to -1.053 in third lactation cows

Effects of dietary Thymus Vulgaris essential oil on the liver in mice

Introduction: Thymus vulgaris (thyme) is commonly used in folk medicine for several therapeutic purposes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of peritoneal injection of essential oil of thymus vulgaris on the liver as an organ involved in metabolism. It also examines toxic effects following a high dose of the drug. Methods and Results: Twenty-four mice were divided randomly into three groups. Group 1 was the control group without treatment, group 2 has received a dose of thyme essential oil, 0.4 mg/kg intraperitonealy for 10 days and group 3 has received a dose of thyme essential oil, 0.6 mg/kg intraperitonealy for 10 days. A score of liver damage severity was semi-quantitatively assessed using the modified Histological Activity Index ‘(modified HAI). Statistical analysis was performed by using computer program SPSS (19). The results showed the statistically significant increase (P≤ 0.05) in the histopathological scoring in Group2 when compared with Group1. Conclusions: The histopathological examination of control group reveals normal hepatic tissue, no portal or periportal inflammation, necrosis, congestion, Infiltration of WBC and fibrosis. While there was a significant loss in hepatic architecture in Group 2 which showed portal inflammation with periportal interface hepatitis (piecemeal necrosis) centrilobular necrosis, congestion, infiltration of WBC and bridging necrosis. The results were revealed statistically significant increase (P≤ 0.05) in the histopathological scoring in Group3 when compared with Group2. The histopathological examination of thyme treated group (Gp3) showed significant toxic effects with moderate acute inflammation of mononuclear cells. It has been determined that Thymus vulgaris (thyme) leads to histological damage including portal inflammation with centrilobular necrosis. The histological alterations may occur through oxidative properties

Finite element analysis of wind turbine blade vibrations

The article is devoted to the practical problem of computer simulation of the dynamic behaviour of horizontal axis wind turbine composite rotor blades. This type of wind turbine is the dominant design in modern wind farms, and as such its dynamics and strength characteristics should be carefully studied. For this purpose, in this paper the mechanical model of a rotor blade with a composite skin possessing a stiffener was developed and implemented as a finite element model in ABAQUS. On the basis of this computer model, modal analysis of turbine blade vibrations was performed and benchmark cases for the dynamic response were investigated. The response of the system subjected to a uniform underneath pressure was studied, and the root reaction force and blade tip displacement time histories were obtained from the numerical calculations conducted

Prevalence and predictors of low back pain among the Iranian population: Results from the Persian cohort study

Background and objectives: Low back pain (LBP) is a common health condition in populations. Limited large-scale population-based studies evaluated the prevalence and predictors of LBP in developing countries. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and factors associated with LBP among the Iranian population. Methods: We used baseline information from the Prospective Epidemiological Research Studies in Iran (PERSIAN), including individuals from 16 provinces of Iran. LBP was defined as the history of back pain interfering with daily activities for more than one week during an individual's lifetime. Various factors hypothesized to affect LBP, such as age, sex, marital status, educational status, ethnicity, living area, employment status, history of smoking, body mass index (BMI), physical activity, sleep duration, wealth score, history of joint pain, and history of morning stiffness in the joints were evaluated. Results: In total, 163770 Iranians with a mean age of 49.37 (SD = 9.15) were included in this study, 44.8% of whom were male. The prevalence of LBP was 25.2% among participants. After adjusting for confounders, the female gender [OR:1.244(1.02-1.50)], middle and older ages [OR:1.23(1.10-1.33) and OR:1.13(1.07-1.42), respectively], being overweight or obese [OR:1.13(1.07-1.19) and OR:1.21(1.16-1.27), respectively], former and current smokers (OR:1.25(1.16-1.36) and OR:1.28(1.17-1.39), respectively], low physical activity [OR:1.07 (1.01-1.14)], and short sleep duration [OR: 1.09(1.02-1.17)] were significantly associated with LBP. Conclusion: In this large-scale study, we found the lifetime prevalence of LBP to be lower among the Iranian population in comparison to the global prevalence of LBP; further studies are warranted to evaluate the causality of risk factors on LBP

Mapping 123 million neonatal, infant and child deaths between 2000 and 2017

Since 2000, many countries have achieved considerable success in improving child survival, but localized progress remains unclear. To inform efforts towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.2—to end preventable child deaths by 2030—we need consistently estimated data at the subnational level regarding child mortality rates and trends. Here we quantified, for the period 2000–2017, the subnational variation in mortality rates and number of deaths of neonates, infants and children under 5 years of age within 99 low- and middle-income countries using a geostatistical survival model. We estimated that 32% of children under 5 in these countries lived in districts that had attained rates of 25 or fewer child deaths per 1,000 live births by 2017, and that 58% of child deaths between 2000 and 2017 in these countries could have been averted in the absence of geographical inequality. This study enables the identification of high-mortality clusters, patterns of progress and geographical inequalities to inform appropriate investments and implementations that will help to improve the health of all populations

Global injury morbidity and mortality from 1990 to 2017 : results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Correction:Background Past research in population health trends has shown that injuries form a substantial burden of population health loss. Regular updates to injury burden assessments are critical. We report Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 Study estimates on morbidity and mortality for all injuries. Methods We reviewed results for injuries from the GBD 2017 study. GBD 2017 measured injury-specific mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) using the Cause of Death Ensemble model. To measure non-fatal injuries, GBD 2017 modelled injury-specific incidence and converted this to prevalence and years lived with disability (YLDs). YLLs and YLDs were summed to calculate disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Findings In 1990, there were 4 260 493 (4 085 700 to 4 396 138) injury deaths, which increased to 4 484 722 (4 332 010 to 4 585 554) deaths in 2017, while age-standardised mortality decreased from 1079 (1073 to 1086) to 738 (730 to 745) per 100 000. In 1990, there were 354 064 302 (95% uncertainty interval: 338 174 876 to 371 610 802) new cases of injury globally, which increased to 520 710 288 (493 430 247 to 547 988 635) new cases in 2017. During this time, age-standardised incidence decreased non-significantly from 6824 (6534 to 7147) to 6763 (6412 to 7118) per 100 000. Between 1990 and 2017, age-standardised DALYs decreased from 4947 (4655 to 5233) per 100 000 to 3267 (3058 to 3505). Interpretation Injuries are an important cause of health loss globally, though mortality has declined between 1990 and 2017. Future research in injury burden should focus on prevention in high-burden populations, improving data collection and ensuring access to medical care.Peer reviewe

Estimating global injuries morbidity and mortality : methods and data used in the Global Burden of Disease 2017 study

Background While there is a long history of measuring death and disability from injuries, modern research methods must account for the wide spectrum of disability that can occur in an injury, and must provide estimates with sufficient demographic, geographical and temporal detail to be useful for policy makers. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 study used methods to provide highly detailed estimates of global injury burden that meet these criteria. Methods In this study, we report and discuss the methods used in GBD 2017 for injury morbidity and mortality burden estimation. In summary, these methods included estimating cause-specific mortality for every cause of injury, and then estimating incidence for every cause of injury. Non-fatal disability for each cause is then calculated based on the probabilities of suffering from different types of bodily injury experienced. Results GBD 2017 produced morbidity and mortality estimates for 38 causes of injury. Estimates were produced in terms of incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, cause-specific mortality, years of life lost and disability-adjusted life-years for a 28-year period for 22 age groups, 195 countries and both sexes. Conclusions GBD 2017 demonstrated a complex and sophisticated series of analytical steps using the largest known database of morbidity and mortality data on injuries. GBD 2017 results should be used to help inform injury prevention policy making and resource allocation. We also identify important avenues for improving injury burden estimation in the future.Peer reviewe